This volume is dedicated to Taddeo di Bartolo (c. 1362-1422), painter of Sienese origin who, as the traveling master he was, spent a good part of his career moving between Tuscany, Liguria and Umbria, serving politically and economically powerful families, public authorities, large religious orders and brotherhoods. He was responsible for imposing altar polyptychs, a sacred art form of which he was the undisputed master: the recomposition of some of these apparatuses, such as the now dismembered altarpiece of San Francesco al Prato in Perugia, constitutes the fulcrum of the studies gathered in these pages.
The book also documents Taddeo’s other fields of activity: from the creation of processional banners to small tables of private devotion, up to the important role as fresco painter with the decoration of the chapel of the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena.
With historical essays and documentary apparatuses, the volume edited by Marco Pierini and Gail Solberg - the painter’s most accredited scholar - is therefore a complete and updated monograph on the figure of the artist.

Perugia, Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria, March - June 2020

Summary (English texts at the end of the book)

Introduction
Marco Pierini

Dedicated to Taddeo di Bartolo: the exhibition
Gail E. Solberg

Before and after Taddeo. Painting in Perugia at the turn of the fifteenth century
Emanuele Zappasodi

Following in the steps of Taddeo: Benedetto di Bindo in Umbria
Veruska Picchiarelli

The context for Taddeo di Bartolo's 1403 Perugia polyptych: San Francesco al Prato
Donal Cooper e Alberto Maria Sartore

Fashioning and functioning of double-sided altarpieces from Duecento to Quattrocento
Machtelt Brüggen Israëls

The predella of Taddeo di Bartolo's Perugia altarpiece: structure and programme
Christa Gardner von Teuffel

The working methods of Taddeo di Bartolo's bottega: a mix of Medieval models and the pleasure of artistic creation
Maria Cristina Tomassetti and Daniele Costantini

Taddeo di Bartolo: a diagnostic laboratory for images open to the public.
Scientific Examinations of the San Francesco al Prato polyptych, 'Annunciation' and 'Pentecost' conserved at the Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria
Emanuela Massa, Anna Pelagotti (Art-Test Firenze), Salvatore Schiavone and Maria Francesca Alberghina (S.T. Art-Test)

CATALOGUE OF WORKS
DEBUT
TRAVELS
RETURN
TRIUMPH
STORIES
INNOVATION
VARIETY
RECONSTRUCTIONS

APPARATUSES
Glossary of Terms
Bibliography