Saint Peter, with Saint James Major [left panel]

Martino di Bartolomeo

National Gallery of Art

Shown from the hips up, a pale-skinned, bearded man holds two oversized gold skeleton keys and a book in front of a gold background in this vertical painting, which has a triangular top. The person’s body is angled slightly to our right, but he looks off to our left from the corners of his brown eyes. He has a thin nose with a rounded tip, full pink lips, and full gray beard. His gray hair is cut into a ring around his head. He wears a sky-blue robe, and his buttercup-yellow cloak is lined with coral red. Both are edged with gold. He braces the book, which has a moss-green cover and white pages, in one hand and holds the two keys up in the other. The man’s gold halo is punched into the gold background, and gilded molding creates a pointed arch over him. A second person, tiny in scale, is shown from the waist up in the tip of the panel. This man has long light brown hair and a beard. He wears a pale blue robe under a raspberry-red cloak. He holds a dark yellow book in one hand and a staff with the other. He looks down to our right, has a halo, and is in front of a gold background.