The Quaratesi altarpiece was painted for the high altar of the Quaratesi chapel in San Niccolò Oltrarno, Florence. Dismembered in the nineteenth century, it originally consisted of the Virgin and Child (now in the National Gallery, London) flanked by Saints Mary Magdalene and Nicholas of Bari on the left, and Saints John the Baptist and George on the right, each on a separate gabled panel. The saints (now in the Uffizi, Florence) stood on a continuous painted pavement, the edges of which are just perceptible on either side of the step of Mary's throne, like figures viewed through the slender columns of an open balcony or loggia. In the same way that Christ with his foreshortened halo leans out of the little roundel in the gable above the Virgin, other figures looked out of roundels above the saints of the main storey. Below, in the predella (now in the Pinacoteca, Vatican, and the National Gallery of Art, Washington)), were lively little scenes of the legendary deeds of Saint Nicholas, titulary saint of the church. All these elements were further harmonised through subtle adjustments of composition and colour. Gentile's sumptuous decorative effects can now best be appreciated in the gold brocade, for the once-brilliant cloth of honour behind the Virgin and Child, painted translucent red over silver leaf and green over gold, has darkened and blotched with age.

Preview	Picture Data	Info
	Quaratesi Polyptych: Virgin and Child 1425 Egg tempera on poplar, 140 x 83 cm National Gallery, London
	Quaratesi Polyptych: Virgin and Child 1425 Egg tempera on poplar, 140 x 83 cm National Gallery, London
	Quaratesi Polyptych: Four Saints 1425 Tempera on panel, 197 x 57 cm (each) Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
	Quaratesi Polyptych: St Mary Magdalen 1425 Tempera on panel, 197 x 57 cm Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
	Quaratesi Polyptych: St Mary Magdalen 1425 Tempera on panel, 197 x 57 cm Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
	Quaratesi Polyptych: St Nicholas of Bari, 1425 Tempera on panel, 197 x 57 cm Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
	Quaratesi Polyptych: St John the Baptist 1425 Tempera on panel, 197 x 57 cm Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
	Quaratesi Polyptych: St George 1425 Tempera on panel, 197 x 57 cm Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
	Quaratesi Polyptych: The Birth of St Nicholas 1425 Tempera on panel, 37 x 37 cm Pinacoteca, Vatican
	Quaratesi Polyptych: St Nicholas and Three Poor Maidens 1425 Tempera on panel, 37 x 37 cm Pinacoteca, Vatican
	Quaratesi Polyptych: St Nicholas Saves a Storm-tossed Ship 1425 Tempera on panel, 37 x 37 cm Pinacoteca, Vatican
	Quaratesi Polyptych: St. Nicholas Saves Three Youths from the Brine 1425 Tempera on panel, 37 x 37 cm Pinacoteca, Vatican
	Quaratesi Polyptych: Miracle of the Pilgrims at St Nicholas's Tomb 1425 Tempera on panel, 36 x 35 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington
	Quaratesi Polyptych: Miracle of the Pilgrims at St Nicholas's Tomb 1425 Tempera on panel, 36 x 35 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington