Saint Bernard and Saint Catherine of Alexandria with the Virgin of the Annunciation [right panel]

Agnolo Gaddi

National Gallery of Art

A man with deeply tanned skin and a woman with pale skin stand under pointed arches with a woman wearing blue in the triangular gable above, all against a gold background and set within a carved, gold frame in this vertical painting. This is the right wing of a three-panel triptych. The man on the left is mostly bald but has a fringe of tawny brown hair, a forked beard, and he wears a white robe. His body is angled slightly to our left. He looks down at a book held open in both hands. The cover is decorated with gold against a scarlet-red cover. The woman on the right faces us, looking at us with hazel eyes under thin brows. She wears a gold crown on her blond hair, which is gathered at the back of her neck. A pale pink mantle trimmed in gold wraps around her bronze and off-white brocaded gown which is visible at the neckline and hem. The edge of the mantle is turned back to reveal its goldenrod-yellow lining. She holds a green frond up in her right hand, to our left, and in the other hand holds a book with a forest-green cover embellished with gold. A wood wheel studded with short black spikes encircles her feet. Both saints have halos carved into the gold background, and they stand on a floor patterned with gold and burgundy red. The outer columns of the panel have pairs of twisted shafts that support the gable, which has a circle carved into its center. In that roundel is a woman and a dove inside a four-lobed quatrefoil. Shown from the waist up, the woman faces our left almost in profile. She has blond hair under the hood of her blue robe, and wears a rose-pink dress. Her hands are crossed over her chest, and she looks at a white dove flying next to her. Above the roundel, a face is surrounded by blood-red wings, set within a shape that has three lobes alternating with three points. Barely discernable, the panel is inscribed across the bottom below the saints, “S. BERNARDUS DOCTOR; S. K TERINA VIRGO.”