Virgin and Child (polyptych, panel 3 of 5)

This central Virgin and Child panel from a five-part polyptych by the Master of the Dominican Effigies, dated around 1345 and now at the Courtauld Gallery, occupied the position of greatest honor in the altarpiece ensemble. The anonymous master, active in Florence in the mid-fourteenth century, took his name from distinctive portraits of Dominican friars, confirming his close association with the Order of Preachers. The Madonna and Child as the central image of a polyptych served as the primary devotional focus for the congregation gathered before the altar.

Painted in egg tempera on gold-ground panel, the enthroned Virgin holds the Child in a tender embrace that reflects the increasing humanization of Marian imagery in the Trecento. The master's refined technique is visible in the careful modeling of faces and hands, the elaborate tooled gold decoration of the halos, and the delicate punchwork patterns in the gilded background.