Madonna and Child enthroned with two Angels

The Master of the Bigallo Crucifixion created this enthroned Madonna and Child with angels around 1300, representing the formal Byzantine-Gothic style that prevailed in Florentine painting before Giotto's revolutionary innovations. The monumental enthroned Madonna was the single most important panel painting type in medieval Tuscany, serving as the devotional centerpiece of church interiors. The panel's location at Villa La Pietra reflects the collection of Arthur Acton assembled in early twentieth-century Florence.

Egg tempera on gold-ground panel with the Virgin in the traditional frontal enthroned pose. The artist's technique shows late Duecento Florentine characteristics, with residual Byzantine flatness in the drapery and formal symmetry typical of pre-Giottesque painting.