Margarito d'Arezzo, 'The Virgin and Child Enthroned, with Narrative Scenes', probably about 1263-4

The Virgin and Child Enthroned, with Narrative Scenes

Margarito d'Arezzo

Not on display

About the work

Overview

This is one of the oldest pictures in our collection. It shows the Virgin Mary, seated on a throne with the Christ Child on her lap, within a mandorla (an almond-shaped enclosure). Around them are eight scenes of the lives of various saints; two show Saint John the Evangelist and two show Saint Nicholas.

In Byzantine art (the art of the Eastern Christian empire), when the Virgin is shown in this frontal pose she is known as the Theotokos (‘Mother of God’). This pose and the inclusion of the throne also reflects a tradition of sculpted images of the Virgin and Child in the West, known as the Mary maiestas (‘Mary of Majesty’), which emphasised her rank and status as the mother of God.

It seems most likely that the picture was made for a church dedicated to either Saint John the Evangelist or Saint Nicholas, possibly the church of Saint Nicholas in Arezzo.

In-depth

This is one of the oldest pictures in our collection. By Margarito d‘Arezzo, it shows the Virgin Mary seated on a throne with the Christ Child on her lap, enclosed within an almond shape called a mandorla. Around them are eight scenes of the lives of various saints.

This simple design is striking. The contrast of the gold leaf background with the decorative black borders and the limited use of colour – red, black, brown and gold – makes it clear and easy to read. Its horizontal shape resembles altar frontals, paintings placed in front of the altar table and used before altarpieces placed above the altar became more conventional. However, vertical channels on the reverse of our panel probably once held battens, which were inserted into the altar table to secure it – proving that it sat on top of the altar.

This depiction of the Virgin and Child stresses that Christ is the embodiment of the Old Testament notion of divine ’wisdom‘ and a spiritual ruler. The carved lions on either side of the throne are intended to bring to mind the throne of the wise Old Testament king, Solomon, described in 1 Kings: 10. In Byzantine art (the art of the Eastern Christian empire), when the Virgin is shown in this frontal pose she is known as the Theotokos (’Mother of God‘). This pose and the inclusion of the throne also reflects a tradition of sculpted images of the Virgin and Child in the West, known as the Mary maiestas (’Mary of Majesty') which emphasised her rank and status as the mother of God. The Virgin wears a crown embedded with jewels, and the strips of jewels that hang down alongside her face recall the type of headdress worn by Byzantine empresses. Christ too is depicted with authority: he looks like a small man, not a baby. He makes a blessing gesture with his right hand and holds a scroll – a reminder that he is the incarnation of logos, the word of God – in his left.

The scene at the far left of the top row shows the Nativity, followed by Saint John the Evangelist being boiled in a cauldron of oil on the orders of the Roman Emperor Domitian, a torture that he survived. In the following scene, the saint brings a woman named Drusiana back to life. The naked man in the next scene is Saint Benedict, who, having been tempted by beautiful women he saw in Rome, threw himself on the brambles outside his cave in order to overcome his desires.

The bottom row shows the decapitation of Saint Catherine of Alexandria followed by two miracles of Saint Nicholas. On the left he appears to a group of pilgrims and warns them to throw away the oil that was given to them by a nun – actually the devil in disguise. When they emptied it in the sea it burst into flames. Next, the saint intervenes to save the lives of three innocent men about to be beheaded. In the final scene we see Saint Margaret being swallowed by a dragon and then miraculously bursting out of its stomach, an episode that led to her becoming the patron saint of childbirth.

It seems most likely that the picture was made for a church dedicated to either Saint John the Evangelist or Saint Nicholas, possibly the church of Saint Nicholas in Arezzo.

Want to find out more?

Delve deeper and explore the catalogue entry for this painting.

Key facts

Details

Full title: The Virgin and Child Enthroned, with Scenes of the Nativity and the Lives of the Saints
Artist: Margarito d'Arezzo
Artist dates: documented 1262
Date made: probably about 1263-4
Medium and support: egg tempera on wood
Dimensions: 92.1 × 183.1 cm
Inscription summary: Signed
Acquisition credit: Bought, 1857
Inventory number: NG564
Location: Not on display
Collection: Main Collection
Frame: 13th-century Italian Frame (original frame)

Provenance

NG 564 was acquired before 1845 in the neighbourhood of Arezzo by Lombardi and Baldi; purchased with other pictures from their collection, 1857.

Additional information

Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Dillian Gordon, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Italian Paintings before 1400’, London 2011; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.

Exhibition history

2011

Devotion by Design: Italian Altarpieces before 1500

The National Gallery (London)

6 July 2011 - 2 October 2011

Bibliography

1845

Collections de tableaux anciens, Florence 1845
1846

G. Vasari, Le vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori e architetti, ed. F. Le Monnier, 14 vols, Florence 1846
1858

R.N. Wornum, Descriptive and Historical Catalogue of the Pictures in the National Gallery, London 1858
1878

G. Vasari, Le vite de'più eccellenti pittori, scultori ed architettori: Con nuove annotazioni e commenti di Gaetano Milanesi, ed. G. Milanesi, 8 vols, Florence 1878
1930

C.H. Weigelt, 'Margaritone', in U. Thieme and F. Becker (eds), Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, Leipzig 1930, vol. 24, pp. 88-9
1934

R.N.D. Wilson, The National and Tate Galleries, London 1934
1943

G. Sinibaldi and G. Brunetti, Mostra Giottesca, (exh. cat. Uffizi, April - October 1937), Florence 1943
1951

Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, London 1951
1966

F.R. Shapley, Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection, vol. 1, Italian Schools XIII-XV Century, London 1966
1973

A.M. Maetzke, 'Nuove ricerche su Margarito d'Arezzo', Bollettino d'arte, 1973, pp. 95-112
1974

L.G. Boccia et al., Arte nell'Aretino: Recuperi e Restauri dal 1968 al 1974 (exh. cat. Church of San Francesco, 14 December 1974 - 15 February 1975), Florence 1974
1986

Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, revised edn, London 1986
1987

L.C. Marques, La peinture du duecento en Italie centrale, Paris 1987
1988

Gordon, Dillian, National Gallery Catalogues: The Early Italian Schools before 1400, revised edn, London 1988
1991

J. Dunkerton et al., Giotto to Dürer: Early Renaissance Painting in the National Gallery, New Haven 1991
1994

E. Langmuir, The National Gallery Companion Guide, London 1994
1994

A. Thomas, An Illustrated Dictionary of Narrative Painting, London 1994
1996

J. Richardson, 'Margarito d'Arezzo', in J. Turner (ed.), The Dictionary of Art, London 1996, vol. 20, pp. 407-8
2001

C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
2011

Gordon, Dillian, National Gallery Catalogues: The Italian Paintings before 1400, London 2011

Frame

The thirteenth-century Italian engaged frame and panel were created as one piece, from wood covered with canvas, gesso, gold leaf and paint. The original frame mouldings are attached to the front of the panel with nails. The left and right sides of both panel and frame have been cut slightly, revealing some of the nails. The chamfered inner edge of the frame was painted red-brown, outlined in black with intricate white scrolling leaf decorations, now only faintly visible. The flat frame features convex roundels spaced at equal distances, also seen on the frame of the Stigmata of Saint Francis by Maestro della Croce (Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence). Conversely, a painting by Margarito with a similar iconography of the Virgin and Child (National Gallery of Art, Washington DC) has a plain gilt flat frame without such roundels.

The frame had been completely regilded before the painting was acquired in 1857. In 2022, the frame’s overgilding was removed and restored to match the aged original gold on the panel.

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

Images

Behind the scenes

Kristina Mandy shows the steps involved in restoring a painting that is over 750-years-old.

This is a YouTube video player. Below the video are the title and the view time.

Restoring the Gallery's oldest painting | Behind the scenes in Conservation | National Gallery

View time: 9:22

You can't see this YouTube video because you haven't accepted marketing cookies. Please adjust your cookie preferences or watch the video on YouTube.