Madonna and Child, with Saints Lawrence and Julian

Madonna and Child with Saints Lawrence and Julian from 1420, now at the Frick Collection, is a triptych that represents Gentile da Fabriano's mature devotional work during his most active period. The flanking saints — Lawrence with his gridiron and Julian with his sword — contextualize the central Madonna within the broader communion of saints that medieval piety regarded as intercessors between humanity and the divine. Gentile da Fabriano was the supreme exponent of International Gothic in Italy, creating works of extraordinary luxuriance in gilding, color, and surface ornament that were among the most prized possessions of Italian courts and churches in the early fifteenth century. The Madonna and Child was the most ubiquitous devotional subject of medieval and early Renaissance art, and Gentile's treatment brings to it the full resources of his decorative imagination — the richly patterned gold ground, the elaborate robes, the delicate modeling of faces — while maintaining the spiritual dignity appropriate to the most sacred of subjects. The Frick Collection's holding places this work in a setting of exceptional quality, where Gentile's panel is displayed alongside the finest Italian paintings in one of America's great private museums.

The figures are arranged with International Gothic grace, the rich coloring and ornamental details creating an effect of refined beauty characteristic of Gentile's decorative approach to sacred subjects.