This anonymous painter, who learnt his craft with Domenico Ghirlandaio
in around 1475, takes his name from a group of five paintings on wood,
today in the Badia or Abbey of Santa Reparata al Borgo near Marradi,
which form the central nucleus of his corpus of work. Four of the
paintings portray Sts. Anthony Abbot, Sebastian and Lucy; the Madonna
of Mercy; St. Giovanni Gualberto; the Madonna and Child between Sts.
Benedict, Reparata, Giovanni Gualberto and Bernardo degli Uberti; the
fifth is an altar frontal with St. Reparata.
We have very little
documentary evidence to help reconstruct this Master's artistic
production, which was in fact quite substantial. The first known dated
work is the Madonna and Child with Saints at Marradi, carried out in
1498. In 1510 he painted an Annunciation for the Chapel in the Seminary
at Pesaro, a work of refined elegance though somewhat archaic in taste
because of the rich gilding and decoration. Only a year later (1511),
he carried out a very different Madonna enthroned with the Child and
six Saints for the Church of Santo Stefano at Palazzuolo sul Senio.
Compared to the previous Madonna it is much simpler in style. This same
rediscovered severity also characterises his last known painting, the
Madonna and Child enthroned from Montefiridolfi, dated 1513.
During this more mature stage, the artist passed from recurring
Botticellian influences to ideas that came much closer to the style of
Perugino, his contemporary.
There is little doubt that he was a
traditional painter, as we can easily see from his frequent use of
punching and precious details in relief, but he also kept himself
informed about the latest changes that were taking place in Florentine
painting of his time. The little we know of his artistic activity shows
that he was, in any case, always faithful to his own particular way of
painting, even in his later work, and quite happy to reintroduce the
figurative designs and models of the past alongside the latest
stylistic trends.
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