Antonio Vivarini and Giovanni d'Alemagna, 'Saints Francis and Mark', about 1440-6
Panels from an Altarpiece
These two pairs of saints were originally the side panels for an altarpiece painted by the Vivarinis, a Venetian family of artists working in the second half of the fifteenth century. The central panel, showing the Virgin and Child enthroned, is now in the Museo di San Tommaso Becket Martire in Padua, although the altarpiece was made for the church of San Moisè in Venice.
The saints are identified by inscriptions and by their attributes – symbolic objects associated with them. They are Saints Peter, Jerome, Francis and Mark. They stand on a pedestal, a detail common in sculpture but in Venetian painting used only by the Vivarinis.
Although the altar was a triptych (a painting in three parts) with panels set in a gilded frame, the ornately shaped stone pedestal would have run along all three panels, and the balustrade behind them connected with the Virgin’s throne – the figures seem to exist in the same space.
These two pairs of saints were originally the side panels for an altarpiece painted by Antonio Vivarini in collaboration with his brother-in-law Giovanni d‘Alemagna, whose name suggests he originally came from Germany. The Vivarinis ran a successful family workshop in Venice in the second half of the fifteenth and early sixteenth century; Bartolomeo and Alvise Vivarini were also members. Their painting had a great influence on the work of Carlo Crivelli.
The saints are identified by inscriptions and by their attributes – they are Saints Peter, Jerome, Francis and Mark. The central panel, showing the Virgin and Child enthroned, is now in the Museo di San Tommaso Becket Martire in Padua, although the altarpiece was made for the church of San Moisè in Venice. The saints are shown standing on a pedestal, a detail common in sculpture but in Venetian painting used only by the Vivarinis.
Although the altar was a triptych with panels set in a gilded frame, the ornately shaped stone pedestal would have run along all three panels, and the balustrade behind them connected with the Virgin’s throne, so that the figures seem to exist in the same space. The flowering hedge behind them also ran behind the Virgin, and is an allusion to the widespread medieval idea of the Virgin as a hortus conclusus, an ’enclosed garden‘, a metaphor for her chastity. The white and red roses were also symbols of the Virgin, who was often referred to as ’the rose without a thorn‘.
The style and setting of the holy figures is very close to that in an altarpiece signed by Antonio and Giovanni in 1446 (now in the Galleria dell’Accademia, Venice), and this altarpiece was probably painted around the same time. The altarpiece was still in the church of San Moisè in 1644 but was presumably dismantled when the church was rebuilt later in the century.
