The Holy Trinity with Saints Benedict and John Gualbert

For nearly two centuries the high altar of Santa Trinita, the church of the Vallombrosan monks in Florence, had belonged to a towering gold-ground Madonna by Cimabue. In 1470 Bongianni Gianfigliazzi, whose family had been granted the altar and the choir seven years earlier, ordered this panel from Alesso Baldovinetti to take its place, and the Cimabue was moved to a side chapel. He paid 89 large gold florins for it. The subject answers the church's name. God the Father holds up the cross with the crucified Christ, the dove of the Holy Spirit between them, inside a mandorla of red-winged seraphim, while two angels at the top draw back a heavy curtain on the vision. Kneeling in front are Benedict, whose Rule the monks followed, and John Gualbert, who founded their order. At the foot of the cross lies Adam's skull.