La 'primavera' di Jacopo del Sellaio

Notwithstanding a corpus of about one hundred paintings – images of the Virgin and Child and painted cassone and spalliera panels – little or nothing is known about the early career of their author, the Florentine painter Jacopo di Arcangelo, known as Jacopo del Sellaio. All the works commonly attributed to him can only be connected to his last decade of activity, for which we have fairly precise stylistic points of reference. As for his early period – his “springtime” – there are no works that offer reliable clues. Scholars have nonetheless attempted to put forward proposals, though without leading to any critical progress. The article seeks to review the situation as regards both style and documentation, and to correct certain misinterpretations, return to some earlier insights and provide a list of works attributable to the artist.