Master of Panzano

( fl c. 1360-90). Italian painter. The oeuvre of this Sienese painter was grouped by Berenson round a small triptych of the Mystic Marriage of St Catherine, SS Peter, Paul and Other Saints (Panzano, S Leolino). A conjectural development under the influence of Pietro Lorenzetti is based on accepting as his a small Maest? of c. 1355 (Siena, Pin. N., no. 585); but this attribution and the accompanying arguments are not wholly convincing. The stylistic traits of the Mystic Marriage point instead to some contact with Bartolo di Fredi and Andrea Vanni but most clearly to Paolo di Giovanni Fei, of whom the Master of Panzano may be regarded as an imitator. The general features of the Panzano Virgin and St Catherine, the former with a markedly retrouss? nose, recall Fei, although the sacklike, inexpressive faces have none of his elegance. Similarly, the long-faced Panzano St Peter, large head set at a precarious tilt, is a mannerist response to such figures as the St James of Fei's Birth of the Virgin (Siena, Pin. N., no. 116), but without the structural logic or the expressive power. The pinnacle figures of SS Anthony Abbot and Blaise above the flanking panels, all set within a crisp intersecting arcade, exactly echo the postures of the saints below. The intricate and spirited convolutions of St Catherine's draperies in the central panel of the Panzano triptych show the Master at his most accomplished.

Part of the Masters, anonymous, and monogrammists family

See the Abbreviations for further details.