Page of Altarpiece of St Ambrose by VIVARINI, Alvise in the Web Gallery of Art, a searchable image collection and database of European paintings and sculptures (1100-1850)

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Altarpiece of St Ambrose

1503
Panel, 500 x 250 cm
Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, Venice

This great panel is the altar of the Chapel of the Milanese. Vivarini had not time to finish it before his death and the work was concluded by Marco Basaiti.

The altarpiece presents the triumph of St Ambrose, patron saint of Milan, carrying a scourge in his right hand and a staff in his left. The shields at his back support the sword and the cross. On his right stand St John the Baptist, St Sebastian and St Louis IX, and on his left St Gregory the Great, St Augustine and St Jerome. Behind the two groups of saints are two anonymous heads that may be the priors of the brotherhood. At the foot of the throne two angels are playing the lute and the mandola. These are by Basaiti, as is St Sebastian.