Madonna and Child with Saints (Dal Bovo Altarpiece)

At the very bottom of this altarpiece, only her head and shoulders rising into view, kneels the woman who paid for it, Altabella Avogaro dal Bovo. She is shown in profile, and the museum points out how hard and unflattering the portrait is, with no attempt to make her lovelier than she was. The picture is dated 1484 and hung in her family's chapel in San Fermo, the Franciscan church of Verona.

Above her the Virgin sits enthroned between four saints. Onuphrius is the desert hermit, Jerome the scholar, and Zeno the early bishop who is Verona's patron. Christopher, the giant who carried the Christ Child across a river, leans on a palm trunk hung with dates. In his legend Christ told him to plant his staff in the ground, and by morning it had put out leaves and fruit. The original carved frame survives as well, with the family's arms and tiny figures of the Annunciation and God the Father.