The Virgin and Child with Angels

A canopy over the Virgin was an unusual choice in Florence. Madonnas enthroned under a cloth of honour belonged to Sienese painting, and the National Gallery points to Simone Martini's fresco of 1315 in Siena's town hall as a possible model. The museum catalogues this little panel as probably by Benozzo Gozzoli, painted around 1447 to 1450.

Four angels hold up the red and gold canopy, and nine small shields are scored into the gold along its edge. The central one carries a cross, which may point to a churchman who ordered the picture. A blooming hedge closes the figures in, probably recalling the enclosed garden that stood for Mary's virginity, and one angel leans over her shoulder to offer the Child a small bird. The edges were trimmed in the 19th century, so any trace of a hinge that once joined it to a second panel is gone.