Two's company ... The altarpiece panels, newly identified as the work of Renaissance master Fra Angelico
Back in late 2003 or so, a woman who had studied history at Bristol University in the 50s got in touch with the university to ask if there was anyone interested in pictures there, as she had some she wanted to show us.
I went to visit her and she showed me her remarkable collection of paintings, books and other works. It turned out to be a very exciting afternoon - there were some very surprising and remarkable things there.
I then continued to visit her from time to time, as I was particularly interested in two very small paintings that hung on the wall of her study, tucked behind a door. These were indeed most unexpected - they looked like 15th-century Florentine works.
I thought they were very interesting and took some photos. I then started comparing them to other paintings and after a while it became quite apparent there existed six other Fra Angelicos all pretty much the same size - virtually identical, in fact, about 10 inches high by about 6 inches wide.
Both the works I had just found and the other six panels all show a figure facing out of a Dominican saint painted in tempera against a gold-leaf background. They were identical in style, technique and materials and the panels even showed the marks left from the original frame. They seemed very convincing, even just comparing them visually.
One is always very cautious about attribution; often one would like something to be by a particular artist. So I sent photos and showed the panels to other experts much more experienced in Renaissance art than I am.
They agreed they were the missing panels from the San Marco altarpiece in Florence, painted between 1439-42 and commissioned by Cosimo de' Medici. The San Marco altarpiece consists of a large central panel of Madonna and Child and kneeling in front are two saints, patrons of the Medici family. The altarpiece was dismantled between the end of the 18th and middle of the 19th century.
It's hugely gratifying that other people have confirmed my research - this really is a once-in-a-lifetime event. And it's always important when missing parts of a major work of art are recovered. Obviously it adds to our knowledge of the completed work, in that it gives a complete picture of the versatility and personality of the artist as a painter.
