# Virgin and Child with Angels and Saints [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [GADDI, Agnolo]() - Date: 1351-1400 - Technique: Tempera on wood, golden background, 222 x 300 cm ## Commentary Virgin and Child with Angels and Saints c. 1380 \(central panel\), 1375 \(side panels\) Tempera on wood, golden background, 222 x 300 cm Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence Jesus sits on his mother's lap, in the presence of angels, issuing blessings and holding a small bird, considered a symbol of the human soul. At the top, in the frame, two angels are crowning Mary as queen. The throne, which consists of cushions and a drape of honour, has lost all architectural connotations to become a precious, decorated casket. At the sides, four saints, Benedict, Peter, John the Baptist and Miniatus, are depicted with a crown, sceptre, and lilies. The saints are much smaller than the figures in the central panel. The altarpiece is, in fact, the result of a modern assembly of two separate works by Agnolo Gaddi, a major exponent of Late Gothic painting in Florence. The original destination of the central painting with the Virgin and Child is unknown, while the side paintings with saints come from a polyptych possibly painted for the church of San Miniato in Florence, which originally featured the enthroned Madonna in the centre. The saint holding a crozier is perhaps the founder of western monasticism, Benedict. Under his cope, he wears a white tunic, identical to those worn by the Olivetan Benedictine monks who lived in the Florentine monastery from 1373. The apostle Peter, next to St Benedict, is holding a book, inscribed with a phrase from the Last Supper: DOMINE TECUM PARATUS SUM ET IN CARCEREM ET IN MORTEM IRE \(Lk, 22:33; And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death\). ## Related artworks - [Chancel chapels seen from the west]() - [Coronation of the Virgin \(detail\)]() - [Coronation of the Virgin \(detail\)]() - [Coronation of the Virgin \(detail\)]() - [Coronation of the Virgin \(detail\)]() - [Coronation of the Virgin]() - [Crucifixion]() - [Dream of Emperor Heraclius]() - [Emperor Heraclius Beheads Chosroës and Enters Jerusalem with the True Cross]() - [Emperor Heraclius Beheads Chosroës and Enters Jerusalem with the True Cross]() - [Emperor Heraclius Enters Jerusalem with the True Cross]() - [Emperor Heraclius Enters Jerusalem with the True Cross]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()