Altar Shrine with Four Saints
A small Venetian altar whose doors open on a gilded statue of the Virgin and four painted saints; a late 15th-century wooden shrine for private devotion. Full commentary ↓
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Altar Shrine with Four Saints is an oil painting by Italian Painter (ca. 1450–75) in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It measures 125.1 × 72.4 × 26 cm.
In the pictureThis is a wooden altar with both doors swung wide open. In the central niche, beneath a pointed gilded canopy, sits a gilded statue of the Virgin with her hands joined, and on the inside of each door one saint is painted in each of the upper and lower compartments. On the left are a saint in red who appears to be Jerome and Sebastian pierced by arrows; on the right are a bishop and a pilgrim saint.
BackgroundSmall altars like this were kept in the bedrooms or private chapels of wealthy households, where people opened and closed the doors as they prayed. The central statue of the Virgin is carved wood covered with gold leaf, and the pictures on the doors are painted in oil and gold leaf. It is a Venetian work of the late 15th century that brings sculpture, painting, and architectural ornament together in a single object.
Puzzle tipThe straight edges of the altar and the compartments of the doors form the framework. Fit the gilded Virgin and the canopy in the middle first, then fill the doors with the red and white robe pieces of the four saints. The dark background comes last. 100 pieces suits it.
- Culture
- Italian
- Classification
- Paintings-Panels
- Medium
- Oil and gold leaf on wood panel
- Dimensions
- 125.1 x 72.4 x 26 cm
- Credit line
- Rogers Fund, 1908
Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art ↗
Stories about this work
- Reading the Lost Color in Four Medieval Sculptures
These sculptures, which now look like white stone or brown wood, were originally brightly painted. What can we read in the places where the color has vanished?
