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PAINTING BY MATTEO DI SIENA AT FOGG MUSEUM

"Virgin and Child," Famous 15th Century Canvas Formerly Owned By Burne-Jones.

In addition to the splendid Piero di Cosmo, recently described in these columns and now on loan at the Fogg Museum, that institution has also received as a loan from the Messrs. Duveen in New York a well-preserved tempera painting on panel of the "Virgin and Child," an Italian work of art of the 15th century by the Sienese painter, Matteo di Giovann di Bartolo, called Matteo di Siena (1435 1495). This important picture was formerly in the collection of Sir Philip Burne-Jones.

Matteo di Giovanni di Bartolo, the son of a tinman of Borgo San Sepolcro who settled in Siena, was born about 1435. He was considered the best Sienese painter of his time and may be said to have adopted the manner of Sano di Pietro and improved it by modernizing it. His ablest authentic picture, "The Virgin Entroned with Angeles" (1470) is in the Siena Academy. Matteo painted several pictures representing the "Massacre of the Innocents," two of which are still preserved. A third is in the Naples Gallery. A mosaic by him of the same subject is on the floor of the Siena Cathedral, a rubbing of which is in the South Kensington Museum. In the same cathedral there are two other pavements by Matteo. Other famous pictures by the master are in San Domenico at Siena, in the National Gallery, London, and in the Academy of Arts at Siena, as well as in other public and private collections.

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