Jacopo Sellaio (attr.)
Florentine

Madonna and Child with Saints Lucy, Sebastian, John the Baptist and Catherine
 tempera on panel, 1493

The William A. Whitaker Foundation Art Fund, 63.18.1



In the fifteenth century in Italy, the Medieval polyptych altarpiece, in which the enthroned Virgin and Child were represented on a central panel and attendant saints on separate side panels, was largely supplanted by the Sacra Conversazione (holy conversation) altarpiece in which the saints were represented on the same panel with the Virgin and Child. The type was developed in the second quarter of the fifteenth century, especially in paintings by Fra Angelico, Fra Filippo Lippi, and Domenico Veneziano. The Ackland painting, though considerably later than the foregoing, is less advanced in its perspective and spatial relationships; and the artist has not taken advantage, as they did, of the representation of the figures in a single, unified space to show them in "conversation."

Each of the figures is involved in his own thoughts and looks in different a direction. Except that the Virgin's lowered eyes are directed toward the Child, there is little of the mutual affection often displayed in such paintings; and Christ's divinity is emphasized as He is shown formally, blessing with own hand and holding the orb with the other.

The Saint Sebastian, the second from the left, in the Ackland painting was changed (perhaps by the artist himself) from a bearded Saint with a palm tree staff (St. Christopher?) to a less bearded St. Sebastian with three arrows. The figure has been restored with the arrows prominent but with the palm tree staff faintly visible. Although the lower portion of the painting has been extensively restored, the Virgin and Child and the heads of the saints (with the exception of the area of St. Sebastian's beard) are in excellent condition. The frame and the painting of the Veil of Veronica on the entablature are contemporary with the panel.