Polyptych with saints

Bartolomeo Vivarini signed and dated this altarpiece in 1464, and the date matters, because these were the last decades before oil paint took over Venetian workshops. Vivarini came from a family of painters on the glassmaking island of Murano, and he still worked in egg tempera, which dries hard and bright almost like enamel. You can see what that gave him in the colour. The Virgin's mantle is a deep lapis blue set against the red cloth behind her throne, and Saint Peter, at the right with his keys, wears a yellow that snaps against more of that blue. Around the enthroned Madonna and Child stand Saints Andrew, John the Baptist, Dominic and Peter, five panels that once opened over an altar in a Venetian church. The gold behind them is real gold leaf, tooled by hand.