Virgin and Child Enthroned with Four Saints

What it is

This altarpiece panel by Giotto shows the Virgin Mary enthroned under a gabled canopy, holding the Christ Child, flanked by four saints including a knight-like figure with a wheel and a bearded elder with a staff. The image here is a black-and-white photograph of the painted panel.

Why it matters

Large altarpieces like this were central to church worship, placed above altars to focus prayer. Giotto's composition, with its gold patterned background and carefully arranged figures, shows the formal conventions of early Italian religious painting and his role in developing more solid, human-looking figures within them.

Look closer

• Why do you think the Virgin is placed at the center under a canopy?
• What might the wheel held by one saint tell us about his identity?
• What is lost in a black-and-white photograph that colour would reveal?