Uffizi Acquires A Virgin and Child by Bigallo Master

Bigallo Master (active middle XIIIth century)
Virgin and Child
Tempera on panel - 119,5 x 61 cm
Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi

August 9, 2007 — Acquisition — Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi — The Soprintendenza per i Beni Architettonici of Florence recently purchased, for the Uffizi, a Virgin and Child by the Bigallo Master (ill. 1). This work was acquired from the Fabrizio Moretti Gallery for the amount of 700,000 euros. It had belonged to the famous Italian antique dealer and collector Stefano Bardini (1836-1922) and was auctioned at Christie’s London on December 8, 2005 (sold at £276,000 with charges).

The Bigallo Master, active in the middle of the XIIIth C. is named after the painted Crucifix held at the Museo del Bigallo in Florence.

Last May when the work was revealed at the Uffizi its installation created a sensation as this Virgin entered the Holy of Holies, that is the gallery that already holds the three "incunabula" of early Tuscan painting: the three Maesta by Cimabue, Duccio and Giotto. The room had remained unchanged for over fifty years. A fifth painting, another Virgin and Child by an artist close to the Bigallo Master, until now kept in the storerooms, was also hung there.

Sources: La Reppublica and other Italian newspapers.