Arte della Lana Altarpiece (Altar of the Eucharist)
by SASSETTA

This altarpiece, the first known work by Sassetta, was commissioned by the "Arte della Lana", i.e. the woolmerchants' guild for the church of the Carmelite Order in Siena in 1423. It was made for the feast of Corpus Christi. It upheld the doctrine of transubstantiation according to which bread and wine is changed at the Eucharist into the actual Body and Blood of Christ.

The triptych was dissembled in 1777, and the central panel is lost, but it is possible to reconstruct its original arrangement from earlier descriptions. According to these, the central panel represented the Holy Sacrament in an ostensory adored by a number of angels around it. Above this there was the scene of the Coronation of the Virgin, and on the sides Abbot S. Anthony and S. Thomas Aquinas were depicted. Above these the scene of the Annunciation was represented in two separate pictures.

On the predella underneath the main panel, seven small panels showed the following scenes: 1-2. Two scenes from the life of S. Anthony, one of them is about his temptation (Siena, Pinacoteca); 3. Execution of an Heretic on the Bonfire (Melbourne Museum); 4. The Last Supper (Siena, Pinacoteca); 5. The Miracle of the Holy Sacrament (Barnard Castle, Bowes Museum); 6. S. Thomas Aquinas in Prayer in front of the Altar of the Virgin (Budapest, Museum of Fine Arts); 7. S. Thomas Aquinas in Prayer in front of the Crucifix (Vatican, Pinacoteca).

Further to the above mentioned ones we know eight panels from the external pillars that represented the Four Doctors of the Church: S. Jerome, Gregory, Ambrose, Augustine as well as the four patron saints of Siena: S. Ansanus, Victor, Savinus and Crescentius. Two small panels from the pinnacles with the figures of the Prophets Elias and Eliseus still exist in the Sienese Picture Gallery. Under the central panel the following inscription was visible: "Hinc opus omne Patres Stefanus construxit ad aras Senensis Johannis agens citra lapsus adultos". The interpretation of this distych is much debated.

The iconographic programme of the altar was probably composed by the Carmelite monks. That is why the two prophets, Elias and Eliseus, the "Dux et Pater" and the Pater of the Carmelites were represented on the altar, and in Carmelite habit. We can also see a few Carmelite monks in the pictures of the predella.

Preview Picture Data File Info Comment
St Anthony the Hermit Tortured by the Devils
1423
Panel, 24 x 39 cm
Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena

900*562
True Color
94 Kb



Death of the Heretic on the Bonfire
1423
Panel, 24,6 x 38,7 cm
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

900*565
True Color
104 Kb



The Last Supper
1423
Panel, 24 x 38 cm
Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena

900*549
True Color
134 Kb



Miracle of the Eucharist
1423
Panel, 24 x 38 cm
Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle

900*565
True Color
120 Kb



St Thomas Inspired by the Dove of the Holy Ghost
1423
Tempera on wood, 23,6 x 39 cm
Szépművészeti Múzeum, Budapest

984*620
True Color
156 Kb



St Thomas Inspired by the Dove of the Holy Ghost (detail)
1423
Tempera on wood
Szépművészeti Múzeum, Budapest

553*800
True Color
115 Kb



St Thomas Inspired by the Dove of the Holy Ghost (detail)
1423
Tempera on wood
Szépművészeti Múzeum, Budapest

499*735
True Color
68 Kb



St Thomas Inspired by the Dove of the Holy Ghost (detail)
1423
Tempera on wood
Szépművészeti Múzeum, Budapest

506*750
True Color
95 Kb



St Thomas Before the Cross
1423
Panel, 25 x 28,8 cm
Pinacoteca, Vatican

735*650
True Color
104 Kb



St Jerome (detail)
1423
Panel
Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena

596*800
True Color
107 Kb




Paintings by Sassetta
| Altar of the Eucharist | Various paintings |