Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata

The altarpiece is cited as being on the main altar (erroneously, as a work of Andrea del Castagno) by Giovanni Cinelli in Francesco Bocchi, Le bellezze della citta di Firenze, ed. Giovanni Cinelli, Florence, 1677 (originally 1591): 280, reprinted Bologna, 1973. It was probably moved on the occasion of restoration work done in the church between 1712 and 1715 (see W. and E. Paatz, Die Kirchen von Florenz, Frankfurt am Main, 1941: 2:607).

The altarpiece was described there by both Giuseppe Richa, Notizie istoriche della chiese fiorentine), 10 vols., Florence, 1754-1762: 10(1762): 294, and Vincenzo Follini and Modesto Rastrelli, Firenze antica e moderna, 8 vols., Florence, 1789-1802: 8(1801):254). Among early writers, Luigi Lanzi (Storia pittorica della Italia, 3 vols., Bassano, 1795-1796: 1(1975):58) is the only one who mentions the predella, which at that time must still have been attached to the main panel. The fact that in 1827 the usually careful Rumohr, the first to read and transcribe the signature of Domenico Veneziano on the altarpiece, did not mention the predella, leads one to suppose that by this date it was no longer in the church. See Carl Friedrich von Rumohr, Italienische Forschungen, 3 vols., ed. by J. von Schlosser, Frankfurt am Main, 1920 (originally Berlin, 1827-1831): 387. In fact, Rumohr presumably saw the panel during his second stay in Italy, between 1816 and 1820. (See E. Sigismund, "R.C.F. Freiherr von Rumohr," in Ulrich Thieme, Felix Becker, and Hans Vollmer, Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Kunstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, 37 vols. Leipzig, 1907-1950: 29[1935]:202, reprinted 1970-1971.)

According to the Getty Provenance Index, the NGA painting is probably the same painting as a "Picture of Two Saints. Stigmatizing of St. Francis in a hilly mountain landscape," listed in the Bohler records as acquired from Siren on that date. Roberto Longhi ("Un frammento della pala di Domenico Veneziano per Santa Lucia de'Magnole," L'Arte 28 [1925]: 31-35, reprinted in Edizione delle opera complete di Roberto Longhi, 14 vols., Florence and Milan, 1956-2000: 2[1967]) and other writers of the 1920s indicate the painting as belonging to Bohler. It was presumably also for Bohler that Georg Gronau wrote his expertise, dated 10 August 1921 (copy in NGA curatorial files), recognizing the authorship of Domenico Veneziano.