Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints

This altarpiece originated in the Carità Church in Venice, where it rested above a marble altar installed in 1495. Very likely, as in other Venetian works of this period, Cima made his trompe-l’oeil architectural space consistent with the real environment, so that the painted columns would have appeared to continue the marble ones.

Cima had been inspired by Giovanni Bellini’s St Giobbe Altarpiece. The represented saints are Catherine, George, Nicholas, Anthony Abbot, Sebastian and Lucy.