Marco Marziale

A crowd clusters around an altar in a church filled with mosaics. On the right, a bearded priest wields a knife; on the left the Virgin Mary holds the Christ Child. Behind her is her husband Saint Joseph, holding a pair of doves. This is the circumcision of Christ, as described in the Gospel of L...

The Virgin and Child are seated on a throne in front of a cloth of honour in this large and highly decorative altarpiece. They are surrounded by saints, in a composition known as a sacra conversazione (‘holy conversation’). On the Virgin’s right are Saints John the Baptist and Gall, the patron of...