Virgin with child and the saints John the baptist and apostle Peter

Ambrogio di Baldese's Virgin with Child and the Saints John the Baptist and Apostle Peter, now in the Lindenau Museum in Altenburg, is an example of the transitional moment between late Gothic and early Renaissance painting in Florence. Ambrogio di Baldese was a minor Florentine master working in the tradition of Agnolo Gaddi, reflecting the decorative refinement and Byzantine-influenced gold ground manner of the late Trecento. The sacra conversazione format — the Virgin enthroned with flanking saints — would become a Renaissance staple, but in Ambrogio's hands it retains the hierarchical frontal character of medieval devotional painting. John the Baptist and Peter flank the Madonna as protective intercessors, their attributes — lamb and keys — legible to any contemporary viewer.

Gold ground and tempera characterize this panel. Figures are presented frontally with stylized drapery folds reflecting Byzantine conventions filtered through Florentine Gothic refinement. The gold ground is tooled with geometric patterns. Facial types are elongated and serene in the manner of the late Trecento.