Francesco Francia, 'Saint Anne with the Virgin and Four Saints', 1510-12

This altarpiece was commissioned by Benedetto Buonvisi for his family chapel dedicated to Saint Anne, the mother of the Virgin Mary, in the church of S. Frediano, Lucca. In the main panel the Virgin and Saint Anne are seated close together on a throne, and Francia reflects their dual importance by placing an arch of sky behind each of them. The figures are united by the infant Christ, who leans across his mother’s lap towards his grandmother to reach for the fruit she offers him. This type of composition, with the Virgin and Child surrounded by saints in an architectural setting, is known in Italian as a sacra conversazione (’sacred conversation‘).

The painting is highly unusual in representing Saint Anne as smaller than her daughter. In Italian art at this date, Saint Anne is usually shown larger or the same size, with the Virgin Mary seated on her mother’s lap and holding the infant Christ (in the National Gallery’s famous The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and the Infant Saint John the Baptist by Leonardo da Vinci).

The Virgin appears lost in thought, perhaps contemplating Christ’s destiny, which is foreshadowed by a relief carving behind her head. This represents the sacrifice of Isaac from the Old Testament (Genesis 22: 2), when God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac as a test of his faith but then provided a lamb in Isaac’s place. Events in the Old Testament are often represented as prefiguring events in the New Testament. It was not a new idea to incorporate an Old Testament episode into the Virgin Mary’s throne or the surrounding architecture but it was ingenious to do so in a way that suggests the Virgin’s thoughts. The Virgin’s robe – the brightest blue in the picture – is painted with the expensive ultramarine pigment that was traditionally used for her robe as a mark of devotion.

Saint Sebastian and Saint Paul stand on the left and Saint Lawrence and Saint Benedict are on the right. Paul, Lawrence and Benedict were name saints of members of the Buonvisi family. Saint Sebastian, a saint invoked against plague, is pierced by three arrows, representing the manner of his martyrdom. Saint Paul holds the sword with which he was executed. The repetition of the red of Saint Paul’s robe in the dress of the Virgin and the angel in the lunette above the main panel helps to tie the composition together and leads our eye to the scene above the main painting.

Saint Lawrence is dressed as a deacon of the church, wearing a long-sleeved tunic made of gold damask. The Buonvisi family were involved in the silk trade and would have appreciated this elaborate silk. Saint Lawrence holds the handle of the grill on which he was roasted to death and his martyr’s palm.

The infant Saint John the Baptist points up towards his cousin Christ and the lunette. He carries a banner that reads ’ECCE AGNUS DEI‘, meaning ’Behold the Lamb of God'. His message is that Christ must be sacrificed and that no lamb will be exchanged in his place. The lunette shows the Virgin again, now elderly, grieving over her dead son lying in her lap.