Pala di Santa Maria in Porto

This was painted around 1479 for the church of Santa Maria in Porto, just outside Ravenna, where it stood on the altar for more than three centuries. Then Napoleon's armies swept through northern Italy, religious houses were dissolved, and their art was gathered up for the new state museums. In 1811 it arrived at the Brera in Milan, where it still hangs. Ercole de' Roberti came from Ferrara, and in the frescoes he painted there his figures crackle with a nervous, jittery energy. Here he does the opposite. The Virgin sits on a high octagonal throne, calm and almost architectural. Look at the base of that throne: the panels imitate antique bronze reliefs, borrowed from the ones Donatello had cast for an altar in nearby Padua.