Frederick III
by BONFIGLI, Benedetto, Tempera and gold on paper, mounted on wood, 23 x 16 cm
The inscription on two strips - one along the top and the other on the right of the panel - reads: FEDERICVS TERTIVS ROMANOR[VM] / REX DIVVS AC SEEMPER AVGVSTVS (“The divine and always august king of the Romans, Frederick III”).
The function of this miniature was established to be the preparation for Frederick’s journey to Italy in early 1452, culminating on March 19 with his coronation by Pope Nicholas V at St Peter’s.
Formerly, the predominant tendency was to ascribe the painting to a Sienese artist (Vecchietta or Domenico di Bartolo), or to attribute it to a Paduan artist from the circle of Squarcione. In the 1960s the name of Fra Carnevale came forward as a possible candidate for authorship. Most recently the attribution to a Perugian painter, Benedetto Bonfigli, was proposed.