Turin, 14th-century triptych attributed to Niccolo di Tommaso restored at Royal Museums

The Royal Museums of Turin today presented the complex restoration of the gold background triptych attributed to Niccolò di Tommaso, depicting the Madonna and Child, St. Gaudentius, St. Catherine and two angels. The restoration - carried out by Cesare Pagliero’s “Restauro e Conservazione Opere di Pittura” workshop, thanks to generous funding from lawyer Marziano Marzano in support of Italy’s public heritage through Art Bonus - restored the panel, long kept in the Pinacoteca’s storerooms, to its structural solidity and brilliant coloring.

The triptych refers to the Florentine Niccolò di Tommaso, a still largely mysterious painter documented from 1346 to 1375 and a collaborator of Nardo di Cione. A witness to the spread of Giottesque language in the second half of the 14th century, he was active in Florence, for Santa Maria del Fiore, in Tuscany and Naples, and his artistic apex has been identified in the frescoes of the Tau church in Pistoia, traced to hismature activity; his only work signed and dated 1371 is the St. Anthony Abbot with Other Saints now in Naples at the Capodimonte Museum, believed to have been commissioned by Queen Joanna of Anjou.

The work depicts in the center the Madonna and Child and two musician angels, on the sides St. Gaudentius, left, and St. Catherine of Alexandria, right; in the cusps Christ is flanked by the Virgin and the archangel Gabriel at the moment of the Annunciation. The neo-Gothic-style woodwork and the identifying inscriptions that appear on the base are the result of 19th-century restorations.

Already part of the prestigious collection of Riccardo Gualino, the well-known and multifaceted entrepreneur from Biella who became one of the leading figures on the financial, economic and collecting scene in early 20th-century Italy, the painting will enrich the rooms on the second floor of the Galleria Sabauda dedicated to the industrialist’s collection, documenting his taste for Italian primitives.

Turin, 14th-century triptych attributed to Niccolo di Tommaso restored at Royal Museums

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