Six Angels
ca. 1365
Medium
Tempera on wood, gold ground
Dimensions
Top left 9 3/4 x 3 7/8 in. (24.8 x 9.8 cm); center left 11 1/8 x 5 1/4 in. (28.3 x 13.3 cm); bottom left 9 7/8 x 3 7/8 in. (25.1 x 9.8 cm); top right (9 3/4 x 3 7/8 in. (24.8 x 9.8 cm); center right 11 1/8 x 5 1/4 in. (28.3 x 13.3 cm); bottom right 10 x 3 7/8 in. (25.4 x 9.8 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Department
Robert Lehman Collection
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
Accession Number
1975.1.65a–f
Tags
Art Historical Context
These six small panels of angels, painted 1365 by the Florentine artist Jacopo di Cione, once formed part of a larger altarpiece. Created in tempera on wood with a luminous gold ground, they reflect the devotional needs of 14th-century churches, where such figures would have flanked a central image of the Virgin or a saint. Jacopo, active during a period of artistic transition following the Black Death, worked within the refined Gothic tradition of Florence, emphasizing graceful poses and delicate patterning. The gold backgrounds, a hallmark of medieval religious painting, were not merely dec...