The Virgin and Child Surrounded by Six Angels

In 1437 the Franciscan friars of Borgo Sansepolcro, a small town in the upper Tiber valley, ordered a new altarpiece for the high altar of their church, and Sassetta delivered it in 1444. It was painted on both sides. This Virgin and Child stood at the centre of the front, the side that faced the townspeople in the nave, with angels crowded around the throne and one of them, at the right, playing a lute. The other side faced the friars in their choir behind the altar. Its centre was Saint Francis in glory, a panel now at the Villa I Tatti outside Florence, surrounded by scenes from his life. So the laity looked at the Virgin during Mass while the friars, at their prayers, looked at their own founder. The Louvre bought this panel in 1956 together with two of the standing saints who flanked her.