Madonna and Child Enthroned between Angels and Saints

Around 1483 Domenico Ghirlandaio ran one of the busiest workshops in Florence, turning out frescoes and altarpieces with his brother Davide and, a few years later, a teenaged apprentice named Michelangelo. This altarpiece was made for a church of the Ingesuati order. It follows a format Florentines loved, a sacra conversazione, a holy conversation, with the enthroned Virgin and Child ringed by saints and angels who seem to share one quiet space. Look at the still life of it: oranges, roses and long-stemmed lilies, gems and gold thread, all described with a sharpness Ghirlandaio picked up from Flemish painting then reaching Italy. Two saints kneel at the front, one of them turning to meet your eye.