Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints Peter and Paul and Angels

Lippo Vanni, a Sienese painter and miniaturist active in the mid-fourteenth century, created this Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints Peter and Paul and Angels around 1358. Lippo was a devoted follower of the great Sienese tradition of Simone Martini and the Lorenzetti brothers, maintaining their emphasis on graceful line and luminous color even as the post-plague period brought stylistic conservatism. Now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this panel exemplifies the continued vitality of the Sienese school in the decades after the Black Death.

Painted in egg tempera and gold leaf on panel, this enthroned Madonna displays Lippo Vanni's refined Sienese draughtsmanship with sinuous contours and delicate facial features. The flanking saints Peter and Paul and attending angels are arranged in a symmetrical, hierarchical composition against an elaborate gold ground with punch-work decoration.