Sano di Pietro (Siena 1405-1481)

Ansano di Pietro di Mencio, known as Sano di Pietro, was the most consistently productive Sienese master of the midfifteenth century. While less is known about his early years, his work is well documented from 1444 onwards. He executed numerous commissions in and around Siena, his compositions revealing the influence of other masters of the Sienese school, in particular Sassetta and Domenico di Bartolo. The intimate relationship between Madonna and Child in this panel, and the particularly tender expression of the Child, owes much to earlier precedent and is paralleled in other devotional panels by the artist, including, for example, the Madonna and Child with Saints Jerome and Bernardino and four Angels (Berenson, op. cit., II, pl. 581), and the picture sold in these Rooms, 9 July 2015, lot 2.