Virgin and Child with Six Saints
by PESELLINO, Tempera on wood, gold ground, 23 x 20 cm
Pesellino specialized in delicately executed small-scale paintings ideal for private study or to carry for private devotion. Remarkably, despite their small size, the figures are described with a mastery that opens a new chapter in Florentine painting. Left to right the saints are: Anthony Abbot, Jerome, Cecilia, Catherine of Alexandria, Augustine, and George. The figure types and lighting reveal the influence of Fra Filippo Lippi, with whom Pesellino occasionally collaborated.