Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, 'The Virgin and Child appearing to a Group of Saints', about 1735

This is a small oil sketch but its composition is ambitious. Giovanni Battista Tiepolo has arranged the figures in a towering pyramid with the Virgin Mary at the top, seated on a cloud. She holds the Christ Child on her knee, grasping his foot firmly as he tugs at her veil.

The saints’ responses unfold in a chain reaction as we are led around the painting by gesture and gaze, while the clouds and swooping cherubs add to the sense of movement. On the right, the outstretched arm of a kneeling priest directs us to the only identifiable saint, Francis of Assisi, who wears the distinctive brown habit of the Franciscans. He bows his head while the priest in yellow beside him looks intently towards the Virgin and Christ. Above them, a female saint, a dagger and martyr’s palm beside her, also turns towards Christ; she could be Saint Agnes or Saint Lucy, both of whom died by the sword. The book, skull and crucifix in the foreground provide no clues as to the identities of the kneeling priests, as such objects appear alongside a number of saints in religious paintings.

Although much of the foreground is in shadow, a heavenly glow illuminates the drama. Patches of light catch the faces of the saints turned toward us and emphasise the vibrant colours and shimmering fabrics of the robes, which gather and fall in delicate folds.

This sketch does not relate to any known altarpiece painted by the artist. It is highly finished, despite the use of broad, visible brushstrokes, and could have been made as a small devotional work or as a preliminary sketch for a project that didn't lead to a major work. A grand, arched loggia (open-sided gallery or room) was commonly used as the backdrop in Venetian altarpieces, as can be seen in another of Tiepolo’s paintings, Saints Augustine, Louis of France, John the Evangelist and a Bishop Saint. In both works, the architecture frames the action in the foreground as well as giving the composition a sense of depth.