Pacino da Bonaguida
Madonna and Child with Saints Paul and Francis

Detail from the left side of a 14th-century diptych in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

In this panel the Virgin Mary's blue mantle is traditional, but otherwise the portraiture is less formal than in earlier centuries. The child wears a loose gown, and he and his mother look to St. Francis rather than facing forward.

St. Francis is identified by his Franciscan habit and the red mark on his right hand, one of the "stigmata" he was said to have received from Christ. St. Paul carries the sword that is his attribute and is, as usual, balding from the front.

Read more about the Madonna and Child, St. Paul, and St. Francis.

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Photographed at the Metropolitan by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.