WINGED SPLENDOUR
ON A GOLD GROUND –
THE REDISCOVERY
OF AN ALTARPIECE PANEL

OLD MASTER PAINTINGS, AUCTION 19 SEPTEMBER 2025

The Archangel Michael, in his elegant purple robe, holds the scales to weigh souls: this masterpiece of late-medieval painting was recently rediscovered in a Swiss private collection. For decades, the panel was considered lost to art-historical research. Attributed to the painter Antoine de Lonhy, it originally formed part of a five-panel altarpiece created for a Dominican order.

The panel of Saint Michael formed the left wing of the altarpiece. Next to it was also a depiction of Saint Dominic, today in the Galleria Sabauda in Turin. The central Nativity panel is now in the Mayer van den Bergh Museum in Antwerp. The two right wings depict Saint John the Baptist with the donor – today in a Swiss collection – and Saint Vincent Ferrer, preserved in the Musée de Cluny in Paris. The ensemble was likely completed by a predella, uniting the five panels into a harmonious composition.

Doubts remain as to the church for which this altarpiece was created. The most likely hypotheses are commissions for San Domenico in Turin or for San Domenico in Chieri, possibly for the influential Solaro family. The ensemble is first mentioned in the sales catalogue of Milanese art dealer Francesco Molinari. Apparently finding no buyer, the polyptych made its way to Paris around 1889, where the Archangel Michael panel and the central Nativity were offered a year later at auction at the Hôtel Drouot.

ANTOINE
DE LONHY

Antoine de Lonhy is recognised not only as a painter but also as an illuminator and a glass artist. From the mid-15^th century onwards, he worked in various regions of Europe including Burgundy, Toulouse, Catalonia, Savoy and finally Piedmont. His works are distinguished by clarity and elegance of line, delicate chromatic nuances, and great sensitivity in the expressive rendering of faces. Particularly remarkable in the painting offered here are the finely modelled, almost translucent locks of the Archangel’s hair, and his inclined face with downcast gaze, lost in silent meditation.

This rediscovery not only enriches the corpus of Antoine de Lonhy but also makes a vital contribution to our understanding of Piedmontese painting of the Cinquecento.

SANO DI PIETRO

TUSCAN MASTER
OF THE CIRCLE OF
BARNABA AGOCCHIARI,
CALLED BARNABA DA MODENA

A FOLLOWER OF
HIERONYMUS BOSCH

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