The Fifteenth-Century Italian Paintings

London’s National Gallery holdings of Italian paintings are both deep and wide-ranging. This new, richly illustrated catalogue of the Italian paintings from 1400–1460 includes entries on masterpieces by the greatest artists of the period, such as Masaccio, Fra Angelico, Pisanello, and Uccello.

Since the publication in 1961 of Martin Davies’ catalogue of the earlier Italian Schools, much new evidence has become available through both scientific and archival investigations. Discoveries have been made and new theories advanced, not only about the identity of the artists but about the nature of their subject-matter and the original settings of their work. Among the completely new findings published here are the discovery of a concealed signature on an Annunciation by the Florentine painter Zanobi Strozzi and the identification of the missing predella panel from the Trinity altarpiece, begun by Pesellino, and completed by Filippo Lippi.

Each picture has been reexamined by conservators and new information gleaned about its technique and condition. All the paintings are reproduced full-page, in color, together with many details, comparative illustrations, and reconstructions.