Room 15

XV/1 Virgin with the Child between the Saints Francis of Assisi, Simone da Collazzone, Bernardino da Siena, Anthony of Padua and angels
          Jacopo Vincioli (?)
          (Spoleto, news 1444-1495)
          tempera on wood panel
          XV century, last quarter
          cm 173 x 125
          Spoleto, church of S. Simone

The painting was in the church of Friars Minor of Spoleto, from which it was transferred to the City Hall when the church became barracks during the Napoleonic occupation.
In the original site, it was exposed on the altar dedicated to Simone da Collazzone, to the left of the entrance.
The Blessed Simone dei conti da Collazione, castle near Todi, belonged to the generation of friars that met Saint Francis when he was still alive.
In 1221 he was sent in mission to Germany, with Friar Simone da Spira.
Two years later he returned to the Spoletian Valley and conducted a hermit life, surrounded by his reputation of sanctity.
After his death in Spoleto on 1250 on the hill of the fortress of S. Elia, the municipality of Spoleto promoted the construction of a new church for the Friars Minor – dedicated to the Saints Simon and Judas – and solicited Innocence IV to start the canonization, which did not pass the witness hearing.
In church, his body was kept “in una sepoltura di marmo benissimo lavorata; intorno al suo sepolcro sono molti dei cotanti miracoli dipinti da buonissima mano” (Marco da Lisbona, 1586).
In the altar piece, the Blessed Simon is painted to the right of the Virgin, with san Bernardino da Siena (canonised in 1450), Saint Francis and Saint Anthony of Padua (canonised in Spoleto in 1232).
 The  painting  was  performed immediately after the first half of the XV century by an Umbrian imitator of Benozzo Gozzoli, with remarked expressive characters.
The painter has been identified by Bruno Toscano (1983) as Jacopo Vincioli of Spoleto, painter that was documented in 1466 working for the Franciscans of his city.
He was in Montefalco in 1474 to decorate Church of San Leonardo, that still has a fresco representing the Virgin with the Child.
The two angels above were added during the XVIII century.

XV/2 Saints John Baptist and Peter, Annunciating Angel, Saint (in the cusp)
          Jacopo Vincioli
          (Spoleto, news 1444-1495)
          tempera on wood panel
          XV century, last quarter
          cm 258 x 99
          Spoleto, church of S. Simone

The painting was in the church of the Saints Simon and Judas of Spoleto, where it was found in 1861 by Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle and Giovanni Morelli: «Nella sagrestia della chiesa di S. Simone dei PP. Minori Conventuali havvi parte di una tavola su cui sono rappresentati sopra fondo d’oro i SS. Gio. Battista e Pietro; al di sopra vi è un angelo e in cima S. Giovanni Evangelista. Pittura a tempera della scuola umbra, della fine del secolo XV. Valore circa 500 lire, diconsi cinquecento. Fu incaricato il sig. Insinuatore di apporvi il R.
sigillo».
It is the left side panel of a large polyptych; its central section, the right side panel and the predella were lost.
Bruno Toscano (1983) suggests that it is part of a polyptych that was given to Jacopo Vincioli of Spoleto for the high altar of the church of Friars Minor of Spoleto an that it should represent a Virgin with the Child among the Saints Peter and Francis, Paul and John Baptist, the image of the Eternal and of the Annunciation in the top moulding as well as other saints in the pinnacles.
According to the documents gathered by Silvestro Nessi (1983-84), the polyptych was completed «usque ad medietatem et ultra» on March 16th, 1467 with Filippo Lippi as witness, but Jacopo stipulated a new contract on May 2nd, 1472 for the high altar piece, that specified the completion of the work of art within the first 15 days of December.
Evidently, the painter did not keep his word since the style of the remaining panel falls within the style of southern Umbria painting during the last quarter of the XV century, that was deeply renewed after the stay in Spoleto of Filippo Lippi (1466-69) and dominated by the personality of Piermatteo d’Amelia, pupil of Filippo Lippi in Spoleto and collaborator of Antoniazzo Romano and Pietro Perugino in Rome.
Jacopo Vincioli is still alive in 1495, therefore, the remaining panel may be part of his last activities.

XV/3 Pala di Montesanto Virgin in throne with the Child, in lunettes the Blessing Eternal
          Antonello de Saliba
          (Messina, news 1480-1495)
          Oil on wood panel, 1494
          cm 136x101; cm 40x120 (lunette)
          church of S. Maria of Montesanto Vigi (Pg)

Inscriptions in the bottom centre tag: ANTONELLUS MESANEUS / PINSIT / 1494

The painting was in the parochial church of S. Maria of Montesanto Vigi, in the bishopric of Spoleto, near Sellano.
The painting was subject to preventive seizure after an inexpert sales attempt in 1866, and it was finally bought by the State in 1893.
The following year Giuseppe Sordini sent the painting to the art gallery of Spoleto.
The antique painting history can be reconstructed thanks to the discovery, in the archive of Fabriano, of the will of Gentile di Battista di Montesanto (Felicetti, 1998), that bequeathed 100 florins on April 3rd 1497 for the construction of a chapel dedicated to the “Madonna del Soccorso” inside the church of S. Maria of Montesanto, specifying to append an image of the Virgin that he had bought in Venice.
Thanks to the inscription included in the scroll ornament the author has been identified as Antonello de Saliba, nephew of the famous Antonello da Messina.
The composition is a faithful copy of the central part of the large polyptych that Antonello Messina had painted in 1476 for the church of S. Cassiano di Venezia, that has unfortunately been preserved in fragments.