Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints

Folding triptychs like this were used for private devotion. The enthroned Madonna and Child are flanked by (left to right) Sts. Nicholas, Bartholomew, Catherine of Alexandria, Anthony Abbot, Francis, and Lucy. This composition uses the metaphor of a queen surrounded by her courtiers to depict the Virgin in her role as the Queen of Heaven. The painter simulated the gold embroidered cloth of the Virgin's throne by scratching away the white paint to reveal the underlying gold leaf, which has been pricked to enhance its reflectivity.

Because few artists during this period signed their works, scholars sometimes identify them by their most impressive painting. Here, this anonymous master is known for an altarpiece he created for a church in Panzano, Tuscany, Italy.

For more information on this piece, please see Zeri catalogue number 27, pp. 46-47.

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Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.

Don Marcello Massarenti Collection, Rome [date and mode of acquisition unknown] [1897 catalogue: no. 64, as School of Siena, early 15th century]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1902, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.