Paolo di Giovanni Fei

Sienese, c. 1335/1345 - 1411

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A woman, Mary, sitting on a throne made of clouds is surrounded by ten winged angels, floating above a landscape with twelve people gathered closely around a long, rectangular, stone box filled with flowers, all set against a gold background in this tall, vertical painting. Mary and the angels have pale, peachy skin and the men below have more tan complexions. Each person’s head is surrounded by a flat, gold halo. In the upper half of the composition, Mary’s blond hair is covered by a veil, and her white robe is decorated with a pattern of starburst-like, gold shapes and edged in gold. She holds her hands together in prayer and looks up. She sits on a light blue, cloud-like form, which is held up by two angels. The other eight angels look on, four to each side. Six of them each play a different musical instrument, and the top two cross hands across their chests. The angels all have blond hair and wear flowing robes in cranberry red, steel gray, cream white, or pale sky blue. In the bottom half of the painting, the people kneeling or bending over the coffin-sized, stone box wear gold-trimmed robes in azure blue, lilac purple, raspberry pink, marigold orange, sage green, or coral red. All but one is bearded, though the face of one, opposite us, is half-hidden behind the outstretched arm of his neighbor. One man, to our left, points into the box, which is filled with white and red flowers and pine-green leaves, and others look into the box, up, or at each other. The box is inlaid with teal-green panels on the side we can see. Grass and flowers grow below. Beyond the box and people, and between them and Mary above, a person kneels on an olive-green, rocky outcropping with hands raised. The angels around Mary line the inner edge of an arch at the top of the panel. The roundels at the top corners above the arch are occupied by a person wearing a mauve-pink robe over a gold garment to our left and a blue robe over a white and gold garment to our left. The entire panel is surrounded by a gold frame carved with steps and moldings.
Paolo di Giovanni Fei, The Assumption of the Virgin with Busts of the Archangel Gabriel and the Virgin of the Annunciation, c. 1400/1405, tempera on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.71

The Assumption of the Virgin with Busts of the Archangel Gabriel and the Virgin of the Annunciation

Paolo di Giovanni Fei · c. 1400/1405 · tempera on panel ·  Accession ID  1961.9.71

This painting is divided into three vertical panels that show people gathered in different parts of a temple, which spans the composition. Each panel is framed by a white and blue latticed arch. The people’s pale skin is tinged with green and they have rosy cheeks. Almost all of their robes, cloaks, and dresses are edged with gold. The central panel is the widest, about half again as wide as each side panel, and a bit taller than the other two. In it, a young blond girl, Mary, stands with her hands folded together in front of two bearded men. Mary leans slightly away from one of the men and looks off to our left. She wears a pale blue garment densely patterned with glimmering gold. She and one of the men next to her have shiny gold halos. The haloed man slightly bows toward Mary, hands out. His gold robe is lined with red, and he wears a white peaked hat with a gold band around the base. The second man stands behind this pair, his hands lifted, palms out. A rose-pink robe is covered by a crimson-red cloak, and a white cloth covers most of his balding head. This trio stands on a raised platform accessed on three sides by seven steps. Coral-red columns with white capitals hold up gray arches above, which in turn support a rose window at the top center of this panel. Two small boys stand at the base of the steps, their backs to us. Both have blond hair and wear red stockings. One wears a white and gold polka-dotted, high-necked robe and the other wears red and points at Mary. Six people fill the arch to our left. A woman with her head and neck covered by a white veil holds up one hand as she clutches her muted blue, gold-edged cloak around her body. She and the bearded, balding man next to her, who wears blue and pink, both have shiny halos. Three more people are barely visible next to and beyond this pair. The sixth person kneels and crosses the left and center panels. They wear a laurel-green robe and look up at Mary. In the panel to our right, two men stand in front of a balcony occupied by eight blond women. Both men are bearded. One has brown hair covered by a black hood, and he wears a pale blue robe under a shell-pink cloak. He looks off to our left, at Mary, and holds his hands clasped down in front of his torso. The other man looks at the first with one hand raised, the thumb pointing toward the center. He has gray hair covered by a white hood, and wears butterscotch-yellow and red. The women above wear dresses in red, pink, yellow, marine blue, or white dotted with gold. The spaces behind the groups on either side panel are backed by gray stone archways lined with coral-red molding. The floor across all three is patterned with squares and rectangles in red, black, and white. Low, white stone walls span the width of the side panels and open up to the center.
Paolo di Giovanni Fei, The Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple, 1398-1399, tempera on wood transferred to hardboard, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1961.9.4

The Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple

Paolo di Giovanni Fei · 1398-1399 · tempera on wood transferred to hardboard ·  Accession ID  1961.9.4

Bibliography

1907

  • Perkins, F. Mason. “Paolo di Giovanni Fei.” In Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart. Edited by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker. 37 vols. Leipzig, 1907-1950: 26(1932):211-212.

1932

  • Marle, Raimond van. Le scuole della pittura italiana. Translated by Alba Buitoni. 2 vols. The Hague and Florence, 1932-1934: 2(1934):524-537.

1939

  • Bacci, Pèleo. Dipinti inediti e sconosciuti di Pietro Lorenzetti, Bernardo Daddi etc. in Siena e nel contado. Siena, 1939: 165-206.

1960

  • Campolongo, Elizabetta. “Fei, Paolo di Giovanni.” In Dizionario biografico degli italiani. Edited by Alberto Maria Ghisalberti. 79+ vols. Rome, 1960+: 46(1996):14-18.

1966

  • Mallory, Michael. “An Early Quattrocento Trinity.” The Art Bulletin 48 (1966): 85-89.

1976

  • Mallory, Michael. The Sienese painter Paolo di Giovanni Fei (c. 1345-1411). Originally presented as a Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University, 1965. New York, 1976.

1981

  • Carli, Enzo. La pittura senese del Trecento. Milan, 1981: 235, 238, 240, 241, 244, 256, 264 n. 200, 265 n. 209, figs. 280-283.

1982

  • Guiducci, Anna Maria. In Il gotico a Siena: miniature, pitture, oreficerie, oggetti d’arte. Exh. cat. Palazzo Pubblico, Siena. Florence, 1982: 295-298.

1984

  • Borgia, Luigi, and Enzo Carli, eds. Le Biccherne: tavole dipinte delle Magistrature senesi (secoli XIII – XVIII). Rome, 1984: 118-119, 124-125.

1985

  • Riedl, Peter Anselm, and Max Seidel, eds. Die Kirchen von Siena. 3 vols. Munich, 1985–: 2, pt. 1.2:656; 2, pt. 2: figs. 730-731.

1987

  • Freuler, Gaudenz. “Die Malavolti-Kapelle des Bartolo di Fredi und Paolo di Giovanni Fei in S. Domenico in Siena.” Pantheon 45 (1987): 39-53.

2005

  • Bagnoli, Alessandro, Silvaia Colucci, and Veronica Radon, eds. Il Crocifisso con i dolenti in umiltà di Paolo di Giovanni Fei: un capolavoro riscoperto. Exh. cat. Pinacoteca nationale, Siena, 2005.

2016

  • Boskovits, Miklós. Italian Paintings of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries. The Systematic Catalogue of the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 2016: 103.