ALBEREGNO, Jacobello
(died before1397 in Venice)

Polyptych of the Apocalypse (central panel)

1360-90
Tempera on panel, 95 x 61 cm
Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice

The picture shows the central panel of the Polyptych of the Apocalypse. In the centre of the polyptych is God the Father in Glory with the Lamb, between the symbols of the four Evangelists.

The ineffably expressive naturalness which makes the central panel of Alberegno's signed triptych so admirable appears again in the panels of the Polyptych with five episodes from the Apocalypse, originally placed in the church of St. John the Evangelist at Torcello. In the central panel for example, where St. John the Evangelist looks up from his writing to admire the Eternal in glory with the Lamb of God, surrounded by the symbols of the four Evangelists with wings covered with eyes, being worshipped by twenty-four venerable old men, here too the theme, though very complex, comes through with exemplary clarity because of the subtle expressiveness of the details which frees the sacred vision of every transcendent abstraction.