Michele Giambono, 'A Saint with a Book', mid-15th century

A elegant bearded saint in red and blue robes holds an open book. His halo, now rather worn, was burnished gold incised with decorative patterns; the edges and lining of his cloak, his sleeves and his neckline glimmer with touches of gold. His book with its fluttering pages has a dark green binding and gilded fore-edges. We are not sure who he is, though he might well be Saint Mark, who was traditionally shown with a dark beard and curly dark hair (as in Saints Francis and Mark), and holding a book, his Gospel.

This small panel seems to have come from the upper tier of a polyptych painted by the Venetian artistMichele Giambono. A number of other figures, both full and half length, against blue backgrounds and apparently from the same altarpiece, survive in collections around the world. The central panel seems to have been a large Saint Michael, seated on a throne (Berenson Collection, Villa I Tatti, Settignano). We are not sure where the altarpiece was originally, although several panels were in Padua in the nineteenth century.

Giambono was one of the last painters working in the style known as International Gothic. He was not interested in the forms of classical art or in conveying emotion through expression, as Venetian Renaissance artists such as Giovanni Bellini were. He painted in egg tempera rather than oil, and preferred the graceful lines, decorative colours and shimmering gold of earlier painters such as Gentile da Fabriano and Pisanello, both of whom had worked in Venice. Carlo Crivelli imitated Giambono’s bright colours, intricate patterns and elegant style. The wavy line of darker blue which runs around the figure shows where the gilded frame would have been.