The Este Diptych

These two panels form a diptych and were originally bound together in purple silk velvet so that they opened and closed like a book.

The diptych appears to have belonged to Eleonora of Aragon, Duchess of Ferrara and consort of Ercole I d'Este, and would have been prized by her as an aid to religious meditation and as an exquisite example of the work of her brilliant court painter.