Pietro di Domenico da Montepulciano, Polyptych of San Vito

Description

The polyptych is overall well preserved, although a perhaps too drastic restoration has given the colors an excessive force. Originally it was supposed to have two registers, but no panel of the higher order has been found. The predella is not made up of a separate table, but of the continuation of the planks above. The arches that frame the figures – barely acute on the sides, in the middle of the center – rest on the twisted columns through small capitals that are only partially original (gold remains on the two sides of St. John the Evangelist). The pendentives, as well as the spaces between the nine quatrefoils of the predella, are extensively decorated with light pastille embroidery; also in pastille some details are found in the figured fields: the hilt of the sword of St. Vitus and the crown of the Madonna, gilded, and the palm of St. Vitus himself, painted. In the center stands the Madonna of humility, now seated directly on the flowery meadow and no longer on the low seat of the New York table. While the Virgin takes care to cover the lively Child with a very light veil, a procession of six angels surrounds her, presenting her with flowers, supporting a sumptuous drape behind her shoulders, placing the crown on her head. On the sides are arranged, planted on a marble platform, the young, elegant St. Vitus, knight and martyr, a somewhat grumpy Baptist, wearing an abundant cloak and holding a tome that is too large weighed down moreover by the Agnus Dei, St. John the Evangelist taken by the reading of his work and finally the deacon Lawrence, who holds the grill of martyrdom in his hand – or rather his model.