Photograph by Ed Pollard, Hasselblad H4D50 - 2012.

Madonna and Child Flanked by Four Saints

ArtistAttributed to Naddo Ceccarelli (Italian, active ca.1339 - 1347)

Dateca. 1339-1347

MediumTempera and gold leaf on panel

DimensionsOverall: 22 1/2 x 20 1/2 in. (57.2 x 52.1 cm)

ClassificationsEuropean art

Credit LineGift of the Irene Leache Memorial Foundation, in recognition of the leadership and guidance of its Presidents, 1901–2014: Annie Cogswell Wood, Fannie Rogers Curd, Melissa Payne King, Nannie Baylor Wolcott, Frances Ferguson Carney, Juliet McClure Dalton, Indiana Lindsay Bilisoly, Clara Mitchell Wolcott, Edith Brooke Robertson, Carter Grandy Bernert, Gail Kirby Evett, Jo Ann Mervis Hofheimer, Harriet Travilla Reynolds, Vickie Bowdoin Bilisoly

Object number2014.3.5

Terms

Madonna
Child
Saints
Religion
Jesus
Mary
Christianity
Red
Gold
White
Black
Gothic
Italy

Collections

European Art before 1945

On View

On view

DescriptionThis tempera and gold leaf on panel painting is a "three-part altarpiece, or triptych, topped with pointed, Gothic arches...The intimate size of [this] tabernacle -- it measures less than two feet square -- suggests that it was not a public, ecclesiastical commission, but a work intended for private devotion. So, too, do the saints who appear on the shutters. Three of them -- Eligius, Bartholomew and Nicholas -- are associated less with ecclesiastical or monastic institutions than with medieval craft guilds, those of blacksmiths, butchers and sailors, respectively. In the center panel the Virgin, with the Child in her arms, stands on a plinth, as though she were a polychromed statue come to life. Attending the Virgin at left are Saint Eligius, who holds his attributes -- the tools of the blacksmith's forge -- and Saint Bartholomew, who displays the knife with which he was martyred. At right are Saint Anthony Abbot, with his book and staff, and Saint Nicholas of Bari, who bears the three golden balls that, legend has it, he gave to enrich the dowries of an impoverished nobleman's daughters. Crowning the wings of the triptych is a two-part Annunciation to the Virgin; the angel of the Annunciation recalls the design of the angel in Giotto's ANNUNCIATION in the Arena Chapel, Padua (ca. 1305)." --Jefferson C. Harrison, THE CHRYSLER MUSEUM HANDBOOK OF THE EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN COLLECTIONS: SELECTED PAINTINGS, SCULPTURE AND DRAWINGS (The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA, 1991), p. 2.

Label TextAttributed to Naddo Ceccarelli Italian, active ca. 1339–1347 Virgin and Child Flanked by Four Saints Tempera and gold leaf on wood Like a Gothic dollhouse, this delicate three-part altarpiece shelters the Virgin and her son at center stage, where they tower over the saints who attend to them. The work’s fairly modest size suggests that it was not a church commission, but a work used in private worship. Nonetheless, its luminous colors, delicate floral banding, and lavish gold-leaf background suggest that the buyer paid a pretty penny to hang it at home. During the Middle Ages, an intense devotional cult paid homage to the Virgin Mary and celebrated her role as the blessed Mother of God with paintings like this one. Gift of the Irene Leache Memorial Foundation, in recognition of the leadership and guidance of its Presidents, 1901–2014: Annie Cogswell Wood, Fannie Rogers Curd, Melissa Payne King, Nannie Baylor Wolcott, Frances Ferguson Carney, Juliet McClure Dalton, Indiana Lindsay Bilisoly, Clara Mitchell Wolcott, Edith Brooke Robertson, Carter Grandy Bernert, Gail Kirby Evett, Jo Ann Mervis Hofheimer, Harriet Travilla Reynolds, and Vickie Bowdoin Bilisoly 2014.3.5