The Entombment of Mary

This piece was Bode’s last acquisition in the fi eld of Trecento painting, which added to the already rich holdings from the Solly collection. It is one of four panels described by Lorenzo Ghiberti in 1445/55 as being in the possession of the Frati Umiliati, who owned the church and monastery of Ognisanti. Giorgio Vasari praised the piece in 1568, and quoted Michelangelo, who said “that the particular quality of this history could not have been represented more naturally or more faithfully”. The horizontal format with gable top is similar to late 13th-century Tuscan dossals, replaced after 1300 by polyptychs and vertical-format altar-pieces. Research has revealed that this panel was primarily painted by Giotto himself. By comparison to his Maestà in the Uffizi Gallery this work is dated c. 1310. HN Maso di Banco (2nd quarter of the 14th century) 166 Mary with the Child, c. 1335/36 Poplar, 81.5 x 49.2 cm Acquired 1821 This centre panel from a five-part altarpiece was possibly painted for the Franciscan Order; scholars have considered the church of S. Croce in Florence, where there are still some of the master’s works today. He came from the school of Giotto, but combined compact forms and strict outlines with a subtle linearity of detail, refined tonality and decorative harmony of colour areas, ornaments and a chased gold ground. Scholars see the representation of three-quarter figures as the transition to altars with full figures.