Part of a predella. On the left, a Carmelite friar; on the right, a woman and her son.
Ugolino (fl. Siena 1317 - 27) was a Sienese painter who was much in demand in Florence; altarpieces by his hand stood on the high altars of both Santa Croce and Santa Maria Novella in the first half of the 14th century.

Commissioned for the Augustinian convent of Santa Maria in Candeli. Beneath the Virgin's cloak, held up by two angels, shelter twenty-three Augustinian nuns and four lay women, who are depicted smaller in size and are probably the donors.
The inscription reads ADVOCATA UNIVERSITATIS.
The painting is attributed to the Master of the Accademia Misericordia - it has been recently suggested that he may be Giovanni Gaddi.

The two figures in this little (65cm x 56cm) diptych stand out for the courtly sophistication of their costly clothes.
The stories of both saints are told in The Golden Legend - Agnes was renowned for her beauty, while Domitilla, as neice of the Emperor Domitian, came from the apex of Roman nobility. They were both martyred rather than give up their virginity to a pagan husband.
Somehow, it's difficult to imagine this focus of private devotion belonging to a man. Andrea di Bonaiuto painted it at about the same time that he was working on the Spanish Chapel in Santa Maria Novella.

Commissioned in 1430 for the San Bonifacio chapel in Siena cathedral by Donna Lodovica, widow of the master of the Opera dell'Duomo.
She was the first individual to break the hold of the Council of Nine over the content of works painted for the cathedral.
Beside her family escutcheons and an image of St Francis, she gave instuctions for a Roman theme to be depicted - the foundation of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.
Her loyalty to Siena shows in the prominence given to the emblems of the patron/citizen instead of the papal insignia customary for depictions of this event.
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This diminutive triptych (central panel 48 x 25 cm) was painted in Milan for private devotion. It is not known for whom it was commissioned. The spandrels of the panels contain gilded glass (verre eglomisé - now sadly tarnished), which would have made the altarpiece truly jewel-like in its brilliance.
On the reverse of the wings: the Expulsion of Joachim, the Angel appearing to Joachim, the Meeting at the Golden Gate, the Birth of the Virgin, the Presentation of the Virgin, and the Marriage of the Virgin.
The nature of the scenes and the gilding and the predominance of female saints have led to the suggestion that the original owner may well have been a lady of some wealth.

The sepulchral casket of the Blessed Juliana, who died in 1262. She is pictured inside the lid kneeling before the saints to whom her convent, the Convent of Santi Biagio e Cataldo on the Guidecca, was dedicated.
This is one of the earliest extant examples of Venetian panel painting. The painter's rejection of Byzantine schemes is particularly marked.