Giovanni da Ponte | 1385-1437

Currently on display, Palazzo Farnese, Civic Museums, Art Gallery 

This small altarpiece, with its bright colours and curved lines, is typical of the style of the painter Giovanni da Ponte. St John the Baptist is recognisable by his fur-lined robe, and St Nicholas by his archbishop’s robes and the three bags representing the miracle of the three virgins. The Annunciation at the top separates the angel from the Virgin, which is an aesthetic way of representing the separation between the divine and the human. Finally, in the centre, a Madonna and Child, crowned by two angels, blessed by God depicted above the group. Christ gazes tenderly at his mother.

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