Мадонна

Gentile arrived in Florence in the summer of 1420, already famous, and this small panel is among the first things he painted there. He brought a style made for princely courts, the International Gothic, all tooled gold ground, fine textiles and slender, softly turned figures, the Virgin's mantle edged in real gold. Within a few years a much younger Florentine, Masaccio, would push painting toward weight and shadow and leave this manner looking old-fashioned. But in 1420 Gentile's polish was exactly what the city's wealthy wanted, and soon after this he began the great Strozzi altarpiece, the Adoration of the Magi. The gold behind the figures was laid over red clay and burnished by hand until it held the light like metal.