Madonna and Child Surrounded by Saints

Madonna and Child Surrounded by Saints, at the Museum Complex of San Francesco in Montefalco, is a sacra conversazione within the larger fresco program—a devotional image of the Virgin with saints that provides a focal point within the narrative cycle. Gozzoli's treatment of the sacra conversazione format shows the influence of Fra Angelico, with whom he had worked closely in the 1440s, in the orderly disposition of the saints around the central Madonna and in the quality of luminous color across the fresco surface.

The Madonna is placed centrally on a throne or raised position, the surrounding saints disposed in the formal lateral arrangement of the sacra conversazione tradition. Gozzoli individualizes each saint through costume and attribute while maintaining the harmonious color balance across the composition—the brightly colored vestments creating a chromatic variety that prevents the scene's formal order from becoming monotonous.