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This is the centre part of the altarpiece painted for the altar of the church of San Domenico at Fiesole, just outside Florence. Originally a triptych, it was radically altered into a single panel in 1501. In the centre the Virgin and Child enthroned with eight angels is depicted, while on the left part St Thomas of Aquino and St Barnaba, on the right St Dominic and St Peter the Martyr are represented (not seen in this detail). The seven pictures of the predella now are in the National Gallery in London.
The eight angels in front, beside, and behind her create the space in which the Virgin sits. The Virgin's gown falls in a restrained manner, her head inclined to one side. The plump cheeks and closely curled hair of Christ and the angels owe much to the manner of Gentile da Fabriano, exponent of the fourteenth-century International Gothic style, who was the dominant painter in Florence during his stay there from 1422 to 1425/6.
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