Siena's Pinacoteca Nazionale reassembles a masterpiece, Sano di Pietro's Polyptych of the Gesuati

The Pinacoteca Nazionale di Siena recomposes after centuries the Polyptych of the Gesuati by Sano di Pietro (Siena, 1405 - 1481): the Madonna Enthroned between St. Dominic, St. Jerome, Blessed Giovanni Colombini, St. Augustine and St. Francis, preserved in the Sienese museum, is in fact reunited for the first time in a long time with its predella with the Stories of St. Jerome, now in the Louvre. Thanks to the important loan from the Louvre, from January 29 to May 12, 2025, the public can thus admire again in its entirety the masterpiece that Sano di Pietro, one of the most innovative and prolific painters of 15th-century Siena and at the head of an important, well-organized workshop that specialized in small- to medium-sized panels intended for private devotion, created in 1444.

The Gesuati Polyptych represents the painter’s earliest work for which we have certain documentation. It is a masterpiece of high technical quality that reveals an already fully mature artist. On the one hand, the influence of his training alongside Sassetta emerges; on the other, there is a sensitivity to the innovations of Florentine painting of the time, especially in the treatment of light on the figures. However, the presence of numerous elements in continuity with the style of the Master of the Osservanza places this work at the center of the debate on the attribution of Sano di Pietro’s early production, raising questions about the possible identification between the two.

“To find an entire polyptych in a museum or church is more unique than rare,” Axel Hémery, director of the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Siena, explains. “And Sano di Pietro’s Gesuati Altarpiece in the Pinacoteca is an absolute masterpiece of both carpentry and painting. Signed and dated 1444, it gives the illusion of completeness, however, the predella has been missing since the 19th century. The isolated predella in the Louvre is often approximated to the miniature, while the Polyptych evokes the connection between painters, sculptors, and goldsmiths. Only by bringing the predella and the altarpiece together can we get the right view of the object, a total work of art.”

Collecting history has long separated the five Stories of Saint Jerome from the rest of the polyptych. The polyptych is first mentioned in the Pinacoteca di Siena in the catalog compiled by Cesare Brandi in 1933, although it is unclear when it entered the collection. More documented, however, is the history of the predella, purchased by the Musée du Louvre in 1863 from the Campana collection in Rome, and previously, until 1852, belonging to the Rinuccini collection in Florence. There is little doubt that the polyptych corresponds to the one described in historical sources as coming from the church of the convent of San Girolamo in Siena, home of theJesuit order. Founded in 1355 by Blessed Giovanni Colombini, the order was deeply committed toassisting the poor and needy, so the polyptych is symbolic of the devotional fervor that characterized Siena at that time. The charitable vocation of the order is recalled by the presence, among the saints depicted in the cusps, of Cosmas and Damian.

The recomposition of the entire Gesuati Polyptych therefore represents a unique opportunity to appreciate the work’s overall iconographic program. Indeed, it is a masterpiece that celebrates theascetic and penitential ideal promoted by the Jesuit order, embodied by Blessed Colombini, beloved by the Sienese for having dedicated himself to theassistance of the poor and needy by renouncing a life of affluence, and depicted in the central compartment as he kneels to receive the Virgin’s blessing, and by Saint Jerome, revered by the Jesuits for his hermitic ideal and penitential inclination, who is instead depicted in the left-hand compartment. The link between the saint and the order is narrated in the five scenes of the predella, in which emblematic moments from the life of St. Jerome are depicted, with a particular focus on the spirituality of penance. In addition to the image of the saint in penitence in the desert (Sano di Pietro depicts him in a cave, amid scorpions and snakes), one can see the rare episode of the dream in which St. Jerome saw himself dragged before Christ and accused of devoting himself to the study of the classics instead of Doctrine, and for this he is beaten by two angels (the first panel starting from the left). The large central compartment depicts the two scenes of the saint removing the thorn from the lion’s paw and of the latter bringing back to the convent the donkey stolen by the merchants. In the last two panels, however, the saint’s death is depicted alongside his appearances to Cyril of Jerusalem, Sulpicius Severus, and St. Augustine.

The Gesuati Polyptych is striking for its exceptional state of preservation and the overall integrity of the woodwork. Also striking is the use of vivid and precious colors, such as the lapis lazuli used for the Virgin’s robe, which still retains a highly refined glazed effect. The bright, luminous colors are especially evident in the predella, which looks like a large-scale miniature because of the depiction of almost fairy-tale landscapes and the fine attention to detail, all bathed in crystal-clear light.

The recomposition of the Gesuati Polyptych, which comes at a time of renewed interest in early 15th-century Sienese painting, stimulated by the recent Massa Marittima exhibition dedicated to Sassetta, has been made possible thanks to a collaboration between the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Siena and the Louvre in Paris. In fact, the Sienese museum has lent Duccio di Buoninsegna ’s Madonna dei Francescani to the Parisian museum on the occasion of the exhibition Revoir Cimabue. Aux origines de la peinture italienne running from Jan. 22 to May 12, 2025. “One year after the final reunion of the Pala dell’Osservanza, albeit for a shorter period, the Pinacoteca does a new fundamental in-depth work thanks to the Musée du Louvre,” Hémery continues. "The project grew out of the loan of Duccio’s Franciscan Madonna to the exceptional Revoir Cimabue exhibition at the Louvre and the idea of contributing doubly to the construction of art history with an exchange of loans that brings substance and richness to our two institutions. The idea shared with the president of the Louvre, Laurence Des Cars, is that this partnership will initiate other initiatives that could also involve the musée du Petit Palais in Avignon."

According to the director of the National Picture Gallery, although history cannot be rewritten, partnerships such as the one the Sienese museum has established with the Louvre allow “past vicissitudes to be redressed.” And, in this case, “the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Siena is the museum where the polyptych object is best read especially in its dimension as a masterpiece of carpentry. The predellas, on the other hand, were the only form known to art lovers in the countries of import of Sienese art. Placing the Louvre predella next to the Siena Gesuati Polyptych is to restore meaning to the past and embellish the present.”

Also in the vein of research on early 15th-century Sienese painting is the initiative promoted by the Friends of the Pinacoteca to reunite the Pala dell’Osservanza. This panel, which gave its name to the Master of the Observance, is currently on display in the same room as the Gesuati Polyptych, thus offering a valuable opportunity to compare the two works. A juxtaposition that makes it possible to deepen the debate on the attribution of Sano di Pietro’s early activities and possible identification with the anonymous Master of the Osservanza.

On the occasion of the exhibition event at the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Siena of recomposition of the Gesuati Polyptych, there will also be numerous cultural activities aimed at involving the citizenship, such as comic strip workshops, games for the youngest and in-depth guided tours.

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