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Triptych: Madonna with Saints and Christ Blessing (Center); The Nativity and the Annunciate Angel (Left Wing); Crucifixion and the Virgin Annunciate (Right Wing)

Maso di Banco

European Art

This folding triptych (a painting on three panels) is filled with multiple figures and scenes meant to inspire devotion and reflection. Because the Virgin appears four times, and Catherine of Alexandria (right) and Mary Magdalene (left) are prominently featured on either side of her in the central image, this triptych may have been of a type primarily intended for use by women at home, perhaps bought or commissioned by husbands to encourage their wives’ virtuous behavior.
MEDIUM Tempera and tooled gold on poplar panel in original engaged frame
  • Place Made: Italy
  • DATES ca. 1336
    DIMENSIONS Center panel: 30 1/8 x 11 3/4 in. (76.5 x 29.8 cm) Wings: 17 3/4 x 5 1/8 in. (45.1 x 13 cm)  (show scale)
    COLLECTIONS European Art
    ACCESSION NUMBER 34.838
    CREDIT LINE Gift of Mary Babbott Ladd, Lydia Babbott Stokes, and Frank L. Babbott, Jr. in memory of their father Frank L. Babbott
    PROVENANCE Prior to 1913, provenance not yet documented; by 1913, acquired by Frank Lusk Babbott of Brooklyn, NY; 1933, inherited from Frank Lusk Babbott by Mary Babbott Ladd, Lydia Babbott Stokes, and Frank Lusk Babbott, Jr.; May 9, 1934, gift of Mary Babbott Ladd, Lydia Babbott Stokes, and Frank Lusk Babbott, Jr. to the Brooklyn Museum.
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    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Center panel: Virgin and Child with Twenty Saints Center pinnacle: God the Father Light wing: Angel Annunciate; The Annunciation to the Shepherds; The Nativity Right wing: Virgin Annunciate; Crucifixion
    EXHIBITIONS
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Maso di Banco (Italian, Florentine School, 1341–1346). Triptych: Madonna with Saints and Christ Blessing (Center); The Nativity and the Annunciate Angel (Left Wing); Crucifixion and the Virgin Annunciate (Right Wing), ca. 1336. Tempera and tooled gold on poplar panel in original engaged frame, Center panel: 30 1/8 x 11 3/4 in. (76.5 x 29.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mary Babbott Ladd, Lydia Babbott Stokes, and Frank L. Babbott, Jr. in memory of their father Frank L. Babbott, 34.838 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 34.838_SL3.jpg)
    IMAGE framed, 34.838_SL3.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
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