• Author: Andrea di Giusto Manzini
• Date: 1437
• Collection: PAINTING
• Technique: Tempera and gold on wood panel
• Dimensions: 211,5 x 221 cm
• Inventory: Inv. 1890 n. 3236

The Virgin is depicted, seated on a throne of clouds having ascended into heaven, in a mandorla at the centre of the altarpiece, surrounded by four pairs of angels. Below, Saint Thomas, before the empty tomb, receives the holy girdle, a precious golden ribbon terminating in fringes, similar to the relic preserved in Prato. On the left, Saint Catherine of Alexandria in sumptuous garments leans on the wheel of her martyrdom; on the right, Saint Francis displays the signs of the stigmata on his limbs and side. The work was created in 1437 by Andrea di Giusto, a late painter, who worked with Masaccio on the Pisa polyptych (1424), caught between the late Gothic tradition and the emerging developments in Florentine painting.

The painting was intended for the altar of the oratory, later destroyed, dedicated to the Assumption of Mary, attached to the Church of Santa Margherita in Cortona and founded in 1434 at the behest of Niccolò and Francesco Baldelli. The names of the two patrons depicted wearing the Franciscan habit, praying on either side of the predella, remain unknown. It is thought they may have been two members of the Baldelli family who wanted to honour the memory of their relative Niccolò, who had founded the chapel just three years earlier.

The panel, complete with predella, figured corner pilasters, vault and an incorporated architrave, is an intriguing hybrid between a late Gothic polyptych and a classic square altarpiece, and bears witness to the complex transformation from the former to the latter type that took place in Florentine painting during the 15th century.