Full title | The Virgin and Child with Saints, Angels and a Donor |
---|---|
Artist | Probably by Bartolomeo Caporali |
Artist dates | active 1467 - 1491 |
Series | Altarpiece: The Virgin and Child with Saints |
Date made | probably 1475-80 |
Medium and support | Tempera and oil on wood |
Dimensions | 122.6 x 83.2 cm |
Inscription summary | Dated |
Acquisition credit | Bought, 1881 |
Inventory number | NG1103.1 |
Location | Not on display |
Collection | Main Collection |
Two saints kneel at the feet of the Virgin Mary, who sits on a marble throne and gazes down at the Christ Child. We're looking at Saint Francis, founder of the Franciscan Order, on the left and the famous Franciscan preacher Bernardino of Siena on the right. The small figure kneeling at the front is the altarpiece’s patron.
This arrangement of the Virgin and Child between Saints Francis and Bernardino was popular in Italy in the later fifteenth century. It first appeared in the work of the Florentine painter Benozzo Gozzoli, but Caporal reworked the composition, making it tighter and increasing its expressive power.
Gestures direct our eyes from bottom to top: we are drawn up from Saint Francis’s hand on the donor to his upturned palm, then to Christ’s, and then to the Virgin. Her still, crossed hands – which are emphasised by size and colour – stop the upwards movement.
Two saints kneel at the feet of the Virgin, who sits on a marble throne and gazes down at the Christ Child in her lap. We‘re looking at Saint Francis, founder of the Franciscan Order, on the left and the famous Franciscan preacher Bernardino of Siena on the right. Francis’s hands show the stigmata – the wounds of the Passion which appeared miraculously on his body – and he gazes devotedly up at the Virgin. The small figure of the patron kneels at the front. We don’t know who he was, but Francis is presenting him to the Virgin and Child.
This arrangement of the Virgin and Child between Saints Francis and Bernardino was very popular in Italy in the later fifteenth century. It first appeared in the work of the Florentine painter Benozzo Gozzoli in the 1450s and was copied by numerous artists, with variations. A similar idea, although more complex, can be seen in Gozzoli’s Virgin and Child Enthroned among Angels and Saints. Caporali seems to have based his composition most directly on an altarpiece by Niccolo da Foligno dated 1457, now in the Pinacoteca Comunale, Deruta.
Caporali didn't just copy the earlier painting, however – he reworked it, making it tighter and increasing its expressive power. This composition is carefully and geometrically arranged to guide our attention in the right direction. The Virgin and saints form a large solid triangle, with smaller triangles formed by Christ and his mother’s open cloak, and by the profile figures of the two saints.
Within this structure, gestures and glances draw our eyes up from bottom to top: we are directed from Saint Francis’s hand on the donor to his upturned palm, then to Christ’s, and then to the Virgin. Her still, crossed hands – which are emphasised by both size and colour – stop the upwards movement. The donor gazes up at Saint Francis who in turn looks up at the Virgin, as do Christ and Saint Bernardino. We are directed back to Christ by her downcast eyes.
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The Virgin and Child with Saints, Angels and a Donor
Altarpiece: The Virgin and Child with Saints
Two of the most popular late medieval saints – Francis, who died in 1226, and Bernardino of Siena, who died in 1444 – present a young man to the Virgin and Child and a choir of angels; he’s the altarpiece’s patron. In the outer panels stand Saints John the Baptist and Bartholomew.
We don't know where this altarpiece came from, although Caporali seems to have worked mainly in Umbria. Neither do we know who the patron was, though clearly he was a man with a special devotion to the Franciscans, the religious order Francis founded.
This is one of the rare paintings of saints that actually resemble the person they depict. Bernardino was a famous travelling preacher who drew large crowds to his outdoor sermons. Many paintings of him were made immediately after his death – possibly from his death mask, which still survives – and show him as here: an old man with a toothless mouth and sunken cheeks.
Two of the most popular late medieval saints – Francis, who died in 1226, and Bernardino of Siena, who died in 1444 – present a young man to the Virgin and Child and a choir of angels: he is the altarpiece’s patron. In the outer panels stand Saints John the Baptist and Bartholomew.
This kind of altarpiece – a triptych with a larger panel in the centre, flanked by standing saints traditionally set against a burnished gold ground – was the most popular form in Italy through much of the Middle Ages. Large churches would have had multiple altars, each with its altarpiece; even quite small parish churches may have had several.
We don‘t know exactly where this altarpiece came from, though Bartolomeo Caporali seems to have worked mainly in Umbria. We don’t know the patron’s identity, though he was clearly a man with a special devotion to the Franciscans, friars who took religious vows but were not confined to a monastery. Founded in the thirteenth century to provide educated preachers and teachers for a growing urban population, they flourished in fifteenth-century Italy. Men who joined the Franciscan Order took vows of poverty and travelled from place to place, preaching and living on what was given by their listeners.
This is one of the few paintings of saints that actually resembles the person it depicts. Bernardino was a famous mendicant preacher and drew large crowds to his outdoor sermons. He spoke out against ‘vices’ such as fine clothing and homosexuality, and encouraged a devotion to the holy name of Jesus; he is often shown with an IHS monogram, as in Giorgio Schiavone’s painting of him. He wears the ash-grey habit of the especially strict Observant (reformed) Franciscans, known in England as the Grey Friars. Many paintings were made of Bernardino immediately after his death – possibly from his death mask (which still survives) – and show him as here: an old man with a toothless mouth and sunken cheeks.
Caporali was born, died and worked in Perugia and his very traditional style – the smooth, flowing lines, decorative colours and burnished gold backgrounds hark back to International Gothic – was primarily influenced by the work of his teacher Benedetto Bonfigli. Some aspects recall Florentine painting: the radiating lines incised into the haloes are derived from Florentine painters of the 1430s and 1440s, such as Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi. The smoothness of his paint handing – look at the skin of the Virgin and the angels – and his way of painting draperies show similarities with Benozzo Gozzoli.
All the panels in this altarpiece have been cut down. The marble parapet would have run horizontally across all three panels, and they had pointed arched tops. The original frame, which was possibly very elaborate, is also missing. There might well have been more panels and possibly a predella.



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