Master of 1416, Madonna and Child with Saints, 1416 (detail, before the current restoration). Galleria dell’Accademia, Florence. Photo: Francesco Bini, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
"Opere restaurate in esposizione: Due dipinti del Maestro del 1416"
Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence 🇮🇹, 6 October 2026 – 14 March 2027
The Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence is showing two panels attributed to the Master of 1416, both just out of restoration, side by side in a temporary display in the first-floor rooms. It is the second instalment of the "Opere restaurate in esposizione" series, after Spinello Aretino's triptych.
The Master of 1416 is the conventional name for an anonymous painter active in Florence in the first quarter of the fifteenth century. He is possibly to be identified with Bartolomeo di Pietro (documented 1412–1427), nephew of Lorenzo di Niccolò di Martino. His compositions keep the neo-Giottesque tradition, but his elongated figures and flowing drapery show the influence of International Gothic and especially of Lorenzo Monaco.
Master of 1416, Ameto’s Discovery of the Nymphs, c. 1410. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Madonna and Child with Saints Peter, Anthony Abbot, Julian and John the Baptist is the work that gives the master his name. Its base bears the date "MCCCCXVI d'agosto". It was probably commissioned by the Arte dei Beccai, the butchers' guild, whose patron Saint Peter has the place of honour beside the Virgin. The panel came to the Florentine galleries in 1782 from the Camera di Commercio and has hung in the Accademia since 1915. Elisabetta Bianco restored it, with Roberto Buda on the wooden support. The work removed extensive repainting and rebalanced a paint surface damaged by earlier, aggressive cleanings.
Master of 1416, Madonna and Child with Saints, 1416 (detail, before the current restoration). Galleria dell’Accademia, Florence. Photo: Francesco Bini, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
The Madonna and Child with Eight Angels repeats, on a smaller scale, Bernardo Daddi's venerated 1347 Madonna in Orcagna's tabernacle at Orsanmichele. The angels' cangiante robes again recall Lorenzo Monaco. It comes from the convent of Santa Apollonia and was acquired by the Italian State in 1865, after the suppression of religious houses. It entered the Accademia's collections in 2017 and is now on public view for the first time. Lucia Biondi restored it, with Alberto Dimuccio on the support. Laser cleaning recovered the original colour of the Virgin's mantle, and the frame was recovered and reassembled.
Bernardo Daddi, Madonna and Child with Angels, 1347, in Orcagna’s tabernacle, Orsanmichele, Florence. Photo: Mongolo1984, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Practical notes
The display is curated by Elvira Altiero (art historian) and Eleonora Pucci (restorer) of the Galleria dell'Accademia di Firenze e Musei del Bargello. Diagnostic work was by Paolo Triolo (Geospectra srl) and Ottaviano Caruso. A video by Domenico Spampinato documents the restorations. The display is part of the Galleria’s permanent route.
Galleria dell'Accademia di Firenze, galleriaaccademiafirenze.it
