Madonna and Child Enthroned between Saint Francis and Saint Bernardino of Siena

Montagna (Bartolomeo Cincani)

Download hi-res image TITLE Madonna and Child Enthroned between Saint Francis and Saint Bernardino of Siena
AUTHOR Montagna (Bartolomeo Cincani)
DATE c. 1490
OBJECT TYPE AND MATERIAL Tempera on panel
DIMENSIONS cm 215 x 166
INVENTORY 189
ROOM VI
Work on display

This painting comes from the church of San Biagio in Vicenza. It uses perspective ruthlessly, placing the Madonna and Child Enthroned and two saints, one of which is St. Bernardino, inside an architectural frame. San Bernardino Albizzeschi is a useful way of dating the Italian paintings of the fifteenth century as depictions almost always follow either his canonisation in 1450 or his death in 1444. We have no contemporary portrait of St. Francis, whereas St. Bernardino’s death mask was kept.