Master Of San Francesco Bardi

Italian painter. A group of works are attributed to the author of the large panel on the altar of the Capella Bardi, Santa Croce, Florence, representing St Francis and 20 Scenes from his Legend. These paintings (previously thought to belong to the Lucca school) are identified as Florentine in origin and showing signs of contact with the Bigallo Master. It was noted that two distinct painters worked on the St Francis panel, a fact that was more obvious after restoration. The principal Master of the Bardi St Francis was identified as a precursor of Coppo di Marcovaldo, who, during the first half of the 13th century, moved away from the figurative tradition of painting in Lucca and developed a style characterized by the description of form through strongly marked patterns of light and dark. Coppo could have been one of the assistants who painted the scenes beneath the figure of the saint in the Santa Croce panel. The impressive painting of a Virgin and Child Enthroned, with Scenes from the Virgin's Life (Moscow, Pushkin Museum) also has obvious stylistic and compositional affinities with the Santa Croce panel.

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