Madonna and Child with the Blessing Christ, and Saints Peter, James Major, Anthony Abbott, and a Deacon Saint [entire triptych]

Martino di Bartolomeo

National Gallery of Art

A central panel showing a woman holding a baby is flanked by slightly smaller panels, which each show a man. All three adults are shown from the hips up in front of gold backgrounds and have pale skin and gold halos. Gilded molding creates a pointed arch over each man and over the woman and baby. Each panel also has a triangular top, and a person, tiny in relation to the main figures below, is tucked into each pointed tip. Those smaller figures also have gold halos and are shown from the hips up in front of gold backgrounds. In the center panel, the woman’s body is angled slightly to our right, but she looks off to our left from the corners of her brown eyes. Her thin eyebrows are low over her almond-shaped eyes, and she has a long, straight nose and a narrow, square jaw. Her blond hair is mostly covered by a dark blue cloak, which is edged in gold and lined in leaf green. Her white dress underneath is also lined with gold along the neckline. The baby wraps one arm around her neck and grips the neckline of her dress with the other. He has a round face but with an adult-like nose and lips. His blond hair curls in short layers over his ears. He wears a pink robe tied with a white sash. The robe has scallop-edged, short sleeves over coral-red long sleeves, also edged with gold. The woman supports the baby’s bottom with one hand and holds one of his bare feet with her other. The third person on this panel, in the pointed peak, is a clean-shaven man with long, wavy blond hair. His body and face are square to us, but he looks off to our right from the corners of his eyes. He wears a pale blue robe under a rose-pink cloak. He braces an open book so the written text on the splayed pages faces us with one hand. His other is lifted with the first two fingers raised. In the left panel, a bearded man holds two oversized gold skeleton keys and a book. His 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 a 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. In the peak above him, a 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. In the right panel, a clean-shaven man’s body is angled slightly to our left, but he looks off to our right from the corners of his brown eyes. He has a thin nose with a rounded tip, full pink lips, and a cleft in his round chin. His blond hair is cut into a ring around his head. His red robe is edged with gold and has rectangular gold patches on the sleeves. A white ruffled collar stands high but loosely around his neck. He braces the book, which has a slate-blue cover and canary-yellow pages, in one hand and holds a palm frond painted with yellow and spring green in the other. The person above is balding with a long gray beard and wears a muted purple robe under a black cloak. He holds a red book in one hand and a crutch with the other. The gold backgrounds are rubbed in some areas to show the red layer beneath, especially under the pointed arches.