A Legend of Saints Justus and Clement of Volterra

Domenico Ghirlandaio painted the Legend of Saints Justus and Clement of Volterra in 1479 as part of a predella cycle whose main panel was dedicated to the Volterra martyrs, saints of local Etruscan origin whose cult was important in the Florentine subject territory of Volterra. Ghirlandaio, then approaching the decade in which he would establish himself as the dominant fresco painter in Florence through the Sassetti Chapel and the Santa Maria Novella choir commissions, was at this date still producing altarpieces and predella cycles for provincial patrons. The Volterra commission reflects the way major Florentine workshops supplied the broader Tuscan market; Volterra's connection to Florence had been violently reinforced by the 1472 sack of the city by Lorenzo de' Medici's forces, and this commission may reflect the subsequent normalisation of cultural relations.

Ghirlandaio's predella style shows the clear, naturalistic figure drawing that would characterise his mature fresco work: each figure occupies space with physical conviction, and the architectural settings use consistent perspective construction. His predella panels are notable for portrait-like faces in the crowd scenes — a trademark that would become explicit in his later work. The palette is warm and harmonious with carefully graduated sky tones.