NICCOLÒ DI BUONACCORSO
(active 1356, d. 1388, Siena)

The Marriage of the Virgin

c. 1380
Egg tempera on wood, 51 x 33 cm
National Gallery, London

Three panels by Niccolò di Buonaccorso share the same dimensions, frame mouldings, pastiglia (an Italian term meaning "pastework") spandrels and pattern on the back, silvered, painted and punched. The panels are The Marriage of the Virgin (National Gallery, London), the Presentation of the Virgin (Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence), and the Coronation of the Virgin (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York). It is not entirely clear how, or even whether, the panels were originally joined together; the elaborately decorated sides must have been intended to be visible.