Arbe Polyptich

Bartolomeo Vivarini, head of the Vivarini workshop in Murano, created the Arbe Polyptych around 1485. The Vivarini family workshop was one of the most productive in Venice and its territories during the fifteenth century. This polyptych, with multiple panels of saints and the Madonna, exemplifies the elaborate multi-panel altarpiece format that remained popular in the Venetian territories. Bartolomeo Vivarini led one of the most productive workshops in fifteenth-century Venice alongside his brother Antonio, executing altarpieces for churches throughout the Venetian territories.

Tempera and gold on panel in the polyptych format. Vivarini's crisp, somewhat conservative style combines elements of the older Gothic tradition with limited Renaissance naturalism.