3. Italian Painting (13-18th c.)

The half-figure of the Madonna on the left panel of the diptych is flanked by the full figures of St. James and St. Lucy. The reason for the sudden change of scale seems to be the icon-like representation of the Virgin and Child. With his right hand, the Child grabs the end of the Virgin’s veil – according to a popular Madonna-type in the period –, while with his left he reaches for the goldfinch, the bird that symbolizes the Passion. The right panel shows the Saviour hanging on the cross. His blood gushes forth onto the heads of the Virgin and of St. John the Evangelist, to the wall symbolizing Jerusalem, and to the ground. A small gold dagger penetrates Mary’s heart, symbolizing her pain and referring to her compassion. The disks of the Sun and the Moon appear above the cross in reference to the cosmic tragedy of Christ’s death and to the darkness that overcame the earth at the moment of Jesus’ death (Matthew 27,45; Luke 23, 44-45). The layout and schematic forms show the influence of Byzantine art, while the stone throne with its fragile pinnacles and crockets betrays the painter’s knowledge of Gothic architecture. In Venice, a city that had close cultural, political, and commercial ties with both the eastern and western world, the mixture of Byzantine and Gothic elements is typical in the trecento. This double orientation is apparent also in the combination of Greek and Latin texts in the picture. The carefully executed, foldable diptych originally served for private devotion. Its external sides are decorated with five- and six-pointed star motifs interlaced with ribbon patterns.