Saint James Major [right panel]

Grifo di Tancredi's Saint James Major, dating to around 1310, formed the right panel of a polyptych by this Florentine painter who worked in a style transitional between the Cimabue-Byzantine tradition and Giotto's innovations. James the Greater, brother of John the Evangelist and the first apostle to be martyred, was one of the most venerated saints in medieval Europe, particularly as patron of the great pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.

Tempera and gold on panel with the apostle shown in a frontal or three-quarter pose holding his traditional pilgrim's attribute. Grifo's style retains the formal solemnity of the late Duecento Florentine tradition while incorporating some of the softer modeling and more natural proportions introduced by Giotto.