Virgin and Child with Six Saints

1448 · Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

religious

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.

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About the Artist

Pesellino

1422 – 1457

Pesellino (Francesco di Stefano), Florentine painter who studied under his father Stefano di Francesco and inherited his studio workshop. His style combined elements from Fra Filippo Lippi, Masaccio and Fra Angelico. He appears to have worked with Lippi, who completed the altarpiece The Holy Trinity after Pesellino's death. Pesellino worked with Uccello on battle scenes for the Medici Palace, Florence, and also painted panels for cassone ('bridal chests'). 1453 Pesellino went into partnership with Piero di Lorenzo di Pratese (d 1487) and Zanobi di Migliore, and numerous replicas of popular Virgin and Child compositions by Pesellino were probably produced in this joint workshop for sale on the open market.

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