Madonna and Child with St Francis and the donor Father Jacopo da Montefalco (left) and St Bernard of Siena (right)

Painted around 1452 early in the artist's career, this devotional work by Benozzo Gozzoli demonstrates the enduring importance of religious painting in the Early Renaissance. As the Florentine painter whose festive frescoes in the Medici chapel epitomize the splendor of the Early Renaissance, Benozzo Gozzoli brings narrative profusion to the sacred narrative, creating a work that served both devotional and artistic purposes in fifteenth-century Italian culture. By the mid-fifteenth century, the innovations of Masaccio, Brunelleschi, and the Van Eycks had fundamentally altered the possibilities of painting, establishing perspective, oil glazing, and naturalistic light as standard tools.

Benozzo Gozzoli employs vivid coloring and rich decorative detail to convey the spiritual gravity of the subject. The treatment of the figures shows careful study of earlier masters, while the palette and lighting create the devotional atmosphere the subject demands.