Saint Bartholomew and Saint Anthony Abbot

Mariotto di Nardo's Saint Bartholomew and Saint Anthony Abbot, painted around 1408, pairs an apostle with one of the most popular saints of the late Middle Ages. Saint Anthony Abbot was widely invoked against ergotism and skin diseases, making him one of the most frequently depicted saints in Italian altarpiece painting. This work belongs to the Early Renaissance, the transformative period in European art when painters first applied mathematical perspective, naturalistic figure modeling, and archaeological interest in antiquity to the inherited traditions of medieval devotional painting. The tension between Gothic grace and Renaissance structure gives art of this period a distinctive energy.

The two saints are rendered in complementary standing poses with their identifying attributes, painted in Mariotto di Nardo's reliable workshop style with clear draftsmanship and saturated colors against gold ground.