Madonna and Child, between a pope and a bishop

Around 1300, painting in Florence was being remade by Giotto, and this panel sits right at that threshold, its style still holding to the softer, older manner. You can date it by how it was built. The backing is made of long boards laid horizontally, a 13th-century way of working, and the gold haloes are tooled by hand, just before Florentine workshops switched to stamping such patterns with punches. It has the shape of a triptych: the Virgin enthroned with the Child, a pope on one side under his tiara, a bishop on the other with his crozier and book. We no longer know which pope and which bishop, because the inscriptions that once named them have worn away, so we read their ranks only from their robes.