Two Angels

Piero di Cosimo painted these Two Angels around 1512 for the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. The angels likely formed part of a larger altarpiece ensemble, reflecting the collaborative and modular nature of Renaissance altarpiece production in Florentine workshops. The tempera medium required careful preparation on a gessoed panel and a disciplined layering technique that produced precise, durable surfaces suited to the intricate detail expected of devotional painting. Such devotional panels served both liturgical contexts in churches and chapels and private devotional use in the homes of wealthy families who maintained personal altars and oratories.

The panel demonstrates Piero di Cosimo's distinctive approach to figure painting with his characteristic luminous flesh tones and slightly unusual proportions that set his workshop apart from the Florentine mainstream.