Madonna and Child with St. Stephen and St. Dorothy.

Francesco da Volterra was a Tuscan painter active in the third quarter of the fourteenth century, working in the orbit of the Sienese and Florentine Gothic traditions. This triptych uniting the Madonna and Child with Saint Stephen (the first Christian martyr) and Saint Dorothy (virgin martyr carrying flowers) follows the conventional votive format common for private devotion and small church altars. Now in the Czartoryski Museum in Kraków, the work testifies to the spread of Tuscan Gothic panel painting across Central Europe through aristocratic collecting. The tender relationship between the Madonna and Child reflects the influence of Simone Martini's courtly elegance on provincial Tuscan masters.

Tempera on panel. The gold ground and punched halos are finely executed. Drapery follows Sienese conventions with calligraphic line and subtle colour gradation. The figures are more elongated than Florentine counterparts, emphasizing Gothic idealization over nascent naturalism.