The 19in x 4ft 8in (48cm x 1.26m) panel, painted in tempera on wood with pastiglia elements, depicts episodes from Livy’s Story of Lucretia. It is by the Florentine artist known as Master of Charles III of Durazzo, who was working in the city from around 1380-1420.
The panel has a 19th century provenance and was once part of the collection formed by Sir John Temple Leader (1810-1903) at the Castello di Vincigliata near Fiesole, which he purchased in 1855 and restored in neo-medieval style.
As was documented in photographs, the panel was formerly inserted into a reconfigured cassone built up of purpose-made elements designed in a Trecento style. It subsequently entered a private collection where it was removed from the 19th century additions.
Two unidentified armorials emerged from beneath a 19th century reworking that had substituted them with those of the Alessandri family, former owners of the Castello di Vincigliata.
The panel appears to be in an excellent state of preservation and is thought to be an early example of a work by the Master of Charles III, dated to c.1380. It has an estimate of €180,000-200,000.
