3-035-456 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Polyptych with Saint James Major, Madonna and Child, and Saints, 1490. Bartolomeo Vivarini's late works are notable for their use of bright, dissonant colours and figures whose firm linear outlines lend them the appearance of sculptures or wood carvings. This polyptych was made for a parish church dedicated to Saint James the Greater and the Virgin Assunta (the Virgin ascending to heaven) in Vallata, a town north of Bergamo, Italy. Saint James stands in the centre, holding a pilgrim's staff with the symbolic scallop shell and a book. Starting at the lower left, Saint John the Baptist wears his customary tunic of animal skins and a pale grey-green mantle and stands in a rocky setting along the river Jordan, unlike the other figures who stand before a marble ledge. Next to him is Saint John the Evangelist. At the lower right, Saint Bartholomew holds a book and a knife, the symbol of his martyrdom, and alongside, an elderly Saint Peter holds the keys to the kingdom of heaven.