The Virgin enthroned, with angels and saints, Vallombrosa Alterpiece

An altarpiece named for its abbey

The record names this entry twice over: by its subject — the Virgin enthroned with angels and saints — and by the house it was made for. Enthronement is the clearest hierarchical device the tradition has, since a throne states rank without needing a caption, and the angels here arrive, as usual, as an unnamed plural placed after the enthroned figure and before nothing.

What the record holds

The catalogue dates the work to 1500 and gives Pietro Perugino, a Italian painter, with High Renaissance as the style term. The recorded dimensions are 246 x 415 cm. The measured colour family is brown. The location on record is Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze, Florence, Italy.

The width tells you what it is

By recorded area this is among the six largest entries in the catalogue, which is altarpiece scale rather than the scale of a panel for a room. That inference is about format and nothing more; the record supports it and supports no claim about how the picture was commissioned, paid for or installed. This is the only work by this painter among the 224 gathered here, and it is one of two recorded at the Galleria dell'Accademia di Firenze.