Left wing of a diptych

The diptych in New York was one of the key works for the reconstruction of the artistic personality of Pacino di Bonaguida. It incorporates all of the elements of Pacino’s emblematic approach to narrative.

The left wing of the diptych is divided into three scenes. The depicted scenes are St John on Patmos (upper left), Virgin and Child Enthroned with Sts Paul and Francis (upper right) and the Death of the Virgin (bottom). Although the perspective of the Virgin’s throne at the upper right is competently rendered by early fourteenth-century standards, its purpose in establishing a believably naturalistic setting is countermanded by the impossible dichotomy of scale between the Virgin and the two saints and by the awkward placement of the latter, who hover or float at the edges of the platform.