Two Sienese panels dating from the 15th century have been recovered in an English parish church, in a village in Yorkshire, just outside the town of Sheffield. More precisely this extraordinary discovery occurred in St. John e S. Mary Magdalene’s Church in the small town of Goldthorpe. 
A sensational retrieval, considering that the two paintings had been “abandoned” for years in the Lady Chapel, an architectonic area of the church where it was very difficult to see them in their splendour.  Nobody ever thought that these works could have an important value. There were no suspects of them being an ancient work and especially no desire to study them or record them.  But at last even these paintings, after many centuries, have been noticed and analysed. Indeed, as soon as the first suspect emerged, Christie’s auction house was called in for a consultancy and in turn sought advice from Everett Fahy of the Metropolitan Museum of New York.
From a first test, the paintings were identified as works by Sano di Pietro (1405-1481), master active in Siena from 1428 where he formed artistically at the Sansetta, although to a certain level he was influenced also by his contemporary Giovanni di Paolo.  An artist who left us a very large production, on the whole of good quality, mostly kept in Siena, and it is also certain that his best works are characterised by great refinement in the design and colour, and by a very skilful use of gold. These works reflect Sano’s lenient religiosity, void of useless sentimentalism and still permeated with the typical fourteenth-century austerity.
In fact, the panels found in the Church of Goldthorpe correspond to these aesthetic characteristics. Dating from the mid-fifteenth century, the two works dominated by gold represent an unidentified saint (possibly Saint James) and Saint Bernardino. It is thought that they originally belonged to a large altarpiece in a Tuscan church.
The panels are about five feet high and by Sano di Pietro, they are certainly among the largest works to be found outside Italy. According to the analysis carried out by Everett Fahy, the works would be in excellent conditions and have never needed any intervention of restoration or preservation. Whereas Christie’s has reached a valuation of the works, which would be about 300 thousand pounds.  Due to its great value, it has been decided that the artist’s masterpiece has to be removed from the church to protect its safety. Such faculty has been obtained thanks to the authorization of the Diocese of Sheffield, which has allowed a temporary loan to the York City Art Gallery, without publicity. Next spring it will be handed over on long-term loan to York Minster, to be hung in the  treasury. Initially the loan will be for a period of five years, then renewable.
The spokesperson of the Diocese of Sheffield claimed that it is very unlikely that, in this first phase, the two panels end up on the art market. However, this cannot be ruled out, but it would be necessary to obtain a sale permit from the Anglican authority.
How the Sienese panels arrived in Goldthorpe is still a mystery. The most plausible explanation is that they came from Lord Halifax, who contributed in 1916 to building the church. He could have bought the paintings during a grand tour in Italy or from an English family, near Hickleton Hall. Unfortunately there are no records that prove whether Sano di Pietro’s panels were a gift or a loan, but it is thought that they could have been a donation.
Moreover, there are coincidences that surround the news with a little suspense. One correspondence is that Mr. Halifax is deputy chairman for Christie’s UK. Furthermore, the fame of St. John and St. Mary Magdalene’s in Goldthorpe depends on the fact that it was the first English church to be entirely built with reinforced concrete. In time the concrete deteriorated it and therefore the building has just been renovated, with a funding of 950 thousand pounds, granted by the Heritage Lottery Fund. Built by Alfred Nutt, architect who wanted to build his parish church in pure Italian style, it is believed that the choice of the two paintings by Sano di Pietro depends on this decision. (translated by Giorgina Arcuri)