Madonna lactans, with the Archangel Gabriel (upper left medallion) and the Virgin of the Annunciation (upper right medallion); in the arched top Christ on the Crucifix between the Madonna and Saint John the Evangelist; in the predella three Prophets (in three medallions), tempera on panel, overall: 88 x 55.5 cm, in an integral frame

Provenance:
Private European collection

The present painting represents the Madonna holding the suckling Child in her arms. According to the iconography typical of the Madonna of Humility the Virgin is represented seated on a cushion placed on the ground, rather than enthroned. Beside her to the right, the naturalistic detail of a small table with various reels of yarn is included. Represented in the medallions to the sides above the main group are the angel of the annunciation and the Virgin annunciate, while in the three medallions below, prophets, recognizable by the scrolls they hold, can be seen. In the apex of the panel the crucified Christ with the Virgin and Saint John the Evangelist in mourning are shown.

The stylistic, iconographic and compositional choices seen in the representation of the Virgin of Humility, and the images occupying the predella and apex of the present panel, as well as the descriptions of the drapery folds, and of the expressive features of the figures, all point to this work being comparable to the most elegant current in Florentine painting at the close of the Trecento and during the early Quattrocento, as exemplified by artists such as Ambrogio di Baldese (or the Master of the Straus Madonna) and Giovanni del Biondo.