Full title | Saints Peter and Jerome |
---|---|
Artist | Antonio Vivarini and Giovanni d'Alemagna |
Artist dates | probably active 1440; died 1476/84; died 1449/50 |
Series | Panels from an Altarpiece |
Date made | about 1440-6 |
Medium and support | Tempera on poplar |
Dimensions | 140.3 x 45.7 cm |
Inscription summary | Inscribed |
Acquisition credit | Bought, 1867 |
Inventory number | NG768 |
Location | Not on display |
Collection | Main Collection |
Two saints – Peter and Jerome – stand on an extravagantly carved stone pedestal. They once formed the left wing of a triptych (an altarpiece in three parts) painted by Antonio Vivarini and his brother-in-law, Giovanni d‘Alemagna, probably in the mid-1440s.
The saints’ names have been painted as if carved into the pedestal and they hold their attributes, the symbols traditionally associated with them. Peter has the keys to the kingdom of heaven, while Jerome has a book: he translated the Bible into Latin.
The bright colours of the saints' robes, the decorative details of their clothes and setting, and the three-dimensional gilding all contribute to the rich effect of this painting – which would doubtless have been enhanced by the original gilded frame.
Two saints – Peter and Jerome – stand on an extravagantly carved stone pedestal. They once formed the left wing of a triptych (an altarpiece in three parts) painted by Antonio Vivarini and his brother-in-law Giovanni d‘Alemagna probably in the mid-1440s. The other wing is Saints Francis and Mark.
The saints’ names have been painted as if carved into the pedestal and they hold their attributes – the symbols traditionally associated with them. At the front is Peter, the first pope and one of the founders of the Catholic Church, grasping a pair of large gilded keys, which have been moulded out of pastiglia and gilded. These are the keys to the kingdom of heaven, which Christ gave Peter as a symbol of his spiritual power. In the same hand he grasps a fantastically bound book, representing the Gospels.
Behind him is Saint Jerome, one of the Fathers of the Church. Jerome was secretary to Pope Damasus I, so is often shown with the red robes and hat of a cardinal – as in Crivelli’s Saint Jerome – although the office did not exist in his lifetime. He holds a bound book of the Bible, which he had translated into Latin; if you look closely you can see that rays of light from the book shine onto the church he holds, to show how Jerome’s works illuminated religious understanding. To show off his skill at depicting objects at extreme angles, the artist has rotated it so we see the gilded edges and fluttering pages, a device also used by Crivelli (look at Saint Peter, for example).
Antonio and Giovanni collaborated on many paintings in a family workshop and it’s very difficult to work out precisely which painter did which bit. Saint Peter’s yellow robe has been hatched with black to simulate gold, a skill particular to the Vivarini workshop, and perhaps associated with Giovanni as it largely disappeared after his death. The bright colours of the saints' robes, the decorative details of their clothes and setting, and the three-dimensional gilding all contribute to the rich effect of this painting – which would doubtless have been enhanced by the original gilded frame.
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Saints Peter and Jerome
Panels from an Altarpiece
These two pairs of saints were originally the side panels for an altarpiece painted by the Vivarinis, a Venetian family of artists working in the second half of the fifteenth century. The central panel, showing the Virgin and Child enthroned, is now in the Museo di San Tommaso Becket Martire in Padua, although the altarpiece was made for the church of San Moisè in Venice.
The saints are identified by inscriptions and by their attributes – symbolic objects associated with them. They are Saints Peter, Jerome, Francis and Mark. They stand on a pedestal, a detail common in sculpture but in Venetian painting used only by the Vivarinis.
Although the altar was a triptych (a painting in three parts) with panels set in a gilded frame, the ornately shaped stone pedestal would have run along all three panels, and the balustrade behind them connected with the Virgin’s throne – the figures seem to exist in the same space.
These two pairs of saints were originally the side panels for an altarpiece painted by Antonio Vivarini in collaboration with his brother-in-law Giovanni d‘Alemagna, whose name suggests he originally came from Germany. The Vivarinis ran a successful family workshop in Venice in the second half of the fifteenth and early sixteenth century; Bartolomeo and Alvise Vivarini were also members. Their painting had a great influence on the work of Carlo Crivelli.
The saints are identified by inscriptions and by their attributes – they are Saints Peter, Jerome, Francis and Mark. The central panel, showing the Virgin and Child enthroned, is now in the Museo di San Tommaso Becket Martire in Padua, although the altarpiece was made for the church of San Moisè in Venice. The saints are shown standing on a pedestal, a detail common in sculpture but in Venetian painting used only by the Vivarinis.
Although the altar was a triptych with panels set in a gilded frame, the ornately shaped stone pedestal would have run along all three panels, and the balustrade behind them connected with the Virgin’s throne, so that the figures seem to exist in the same space. The flowering hedge behind them also ran behind the Virgin, and is an allusion to the widespread medieval idea of the Virgin as a hortus conclusus, an ’enclosed garden‘, a metaphor for her chastity. The white and red roses were also symbols of the Virgin, who was often referred to as ’the rose without a thorn‘.
The style and setting of the holy figures is very close to that in an altarpiece signed by Antonio and Giovanni in 1446 (now in the Galleria dell’Accademia, Venice), and this altarpiece was probably painted around the same time. The altarpiece was still in the church of San Moisè in 1644 but was presumably dismantled when the church was rebuilt later in the century.


More paintings by Antonio Vivarini

More paintings by Giovanni d'Alemagna
