Petrus Christus
1449
St Eligius in his workshop
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
A young couple, about to be married, have brought a quantity of gold to the patron saint of goldsmiths to be melted down and fashioned into rings. Christus shows the goldsmith's shop in great detail, including not only the tools of the trade, but also precious objects, such as the coral, carefully arranged on shelves. There is a convex
circular mirror on the right-hand side of St Eligius's table: an allusion to the
Arnolfini Marriage by Jan van Eyk, now in the National Gallery.
Bartolomeo Bon
1420's
Wellhead
Ca d'Oro, Venice
An elaborate limestone wellhead, related to a
similar one in red Verona marble in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Stained glass roundels in the cupola
1434 - 1444
Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence
From left to right, the roundels are:
Ghiberti and Uccello were each responsible for two more roundels - the eighth was designed by Donatello.
Antonio Pollaiuolo
1466 - 1487
St John the Baptist at the Court of Herod
Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence
The embroidery is one of 27 surviving panels cut down from a set of liturgical vestments commissioned by the Merchants' Guild (Calimala). Vasari, and documents from the Calimala, state that the vestments took 26 years to make.
St John, in his camel hair garment, appears elevated on a podium with his accusatory gesture directed at Herod and Herodias. Salome is seated next to them, pointing back at the prophet.
Giovanni Leonardelli and Ugolino di Prete Ilario
1365
Mosaic of the Birth of the Virgin
Victoria and Albert Museum
The mosaic was commissioned for the cathedral in Orvieto. Leonardelli was a Franciscan friar employed full-time as a mosaicist by the Opera of the Duomo. Ugolini provided the cartoon - he also painted some frescoes in the cathedral.
At least St Anne seems to be about to get a decent meal!
Leonardo da Vinci
1498
The Last Supper
Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan
Antonio Pollaiuolo
1470's
Pageant shield with Milos of Croton
Louvre, Paris
The limbs of the mythical, muscle-bound athlete (who over-stretched himself), modelled in gesso and gilded, strain against the curvature of the shield.
The Victoria and Albert Museum has a
large pageant shield bearing the emblems of the Villani family.
Justus of Ghent (Joos van Wassenhove)
c. 1474
St Augustine
Musée du Louvre, Paris
Part of a series of famous men that Justus executed for Federico da Montefeltro's
studiolo in his new palace in Gubbio.
After he had painted
The Institution of the Eucharist he went on to make twenty-eight portraits of famous men for the
studiolo. He was assisted by Pedro Berruguette, who painted a portrait of
Federico and his son.
(Pedro also painted Federico's hands on Piero della Francesca's
Montefeltro Altarpiece).

Justus of Ghent (Joos van Wassenhove)
c. 1480
Seven Liberal Arts (Music)
National Gallery
Part of Justus's work for Federico da Montefeltro's studiolo in his new palace in Gubbio.
Inscribed on the entablature behind the throne is I (?)ECLESIE CONFALONERIVS. This draws the viewer's attention to Federico's office as Standard Bearer (Commander in Chief) of the papal armies.
Music, one of the Seven Liberal Arts, is enthroned and points to an organ. The kneeling youth may be Costanzo Sforza (born 1447), whose imprese was a spray of laurel which is seen hanging behind him.
Justus of Ghent (Joos van Wassenhove)
c. 1480
Seven Liberal Arts (Rhetoric)
National Gallery
Part of Justus's work for Federico da Montefeltro's studiolo in his new palace in Gubbio.
Inscribed on the entablature behind the throne is DVX VRBINI MONTIS FERETRI AC (Duke of Urbino, [Count of] Montefeltro and ...).
The enthroned figure, pointing to a book, is Rhetoric, one of the Seven Liberal Arts.
Colantonio
c. 1445
St Jerome in his study
Museo di Capodimonte, Naples
Colantonio was born in Naples in about 1420. He was the master of Antonello da Messina and was considered to have introduced oil painting to Italy. In the period of Aragonese rule between 1440 and 1470, Naples was the capital of a vast realm and a centre of culture and art where Spanish, Flemish, Burgundian and Italian styles came together.
This panel and
St Francis giving the Rule formed part of the same altarpiece in San Lorenzo, Naples, and are part of the intense Franciscan debate over the poverty of the Order.