Virgin and Christ with Saints James, John the Baptist, Peter and Franci

The Master of Varlungo is an anonymous Florentine or Tuscan painter of the late thirteenth to early fourteenth century named for works in the village of Varlungo near Florence. His Virgin and Christ Enthroned with Saints James, John the Baptist, Peter, and Francis belongs to the polyptych format of Tuscan church altarpieces in which individual saints flanked the central devotional image in separate compartments. The inclusion of Francis — founder of the Franciscans, canonised 1228 — alongside the earlier saints suggests a Franciscan or Franciscan-associated commission for a church with particular ties to that order.

The Master of Varlungo works within the Byzantine-influenced Florentine Gothic tradition, employing egg tempera over gesso with gold grounds. Christ's image follows the Byzantine Pantocrator type adapted for the Tuscan tradition. The flanking saints are rendered with the individual attribute identification of devotional polyptych painting, with modest physiognomic differentiation between figures. Gold tooling on haloes shows workshop competence.