St Ambrose

Carlo Crivelli painted this Saint Ambrose around 1487, likely as part of a polyptych altarpiece. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan and one of the four Latin Church Fathers, was frequently depicted in elaborate episcopal vestments. Crivelli's treatment of the richly vested bishop provided ample opportunity for the decorative elaboration that characterized his distinctive style. Carlo Crivelli was a Venetian-trained painter who spent most of his career in the Marche, the central Italian region east of the Apennines, where he executed altarpieces for churches in Ascoli Piceno, Camerino, and other provincial centers.

Tempera and gold on panel with Crivelli's characteristic ornamental richness applied to the bishop's vestments. The sharp linear precision and elaborate surface detail are quintessentially Crivelliesque.