Madonna and Child Enthroned with Four Saints

Created circa 1240 by Margaritone d'Arezzo, this tempera-on-panel altarpiece was likely commissioned for the Benedictine church of Badia delle Sante Flora e Lucilla near Arezzo, a connection suggested by the depiction of Saints Benedict, Flora, and Lucilla. The work's provenance begins with its presence in the art market in Rome before being acquired by William Blundell Spence in Florence by 1859. It subsequently passed to Ralph Nicholson Wornum in London by 1865 and later to Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt-Rivers by 1894.

Ownership descended to his grandson, George Henry Lane Fox Pitt-Rivers, by 1926. The painting was sold to Philip Lehman of New York by 1928, transferred to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation in June 1943, and finally gifted to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., in 1952.

The panel by Margaritone d'Arezzo, executed circa 1240 for a Benedictine house near Arezzo, later entered prominent private collections before being acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation and entering the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Its movement through the hands of collectors such as William Blundell Spence, Ralph Wornum, and Augustus Pitt-Rivers illustrates a growing nineteenth-century appreciation for early Italian devotional painting, a trend that helped shape the modern understanding of Italian trecento art. The work's presence in a major public museum underscores its recognized stature as a representative example of religious panel painting and continues to inform scholarly studies of medieval iconography and style.

This tempera painting on panel, created around 1242 by Margaritone d'Arezzo, depicts the Virgin Mary and Christ Child seated on a throne, flanked by four saints. It is a representative example of religious art from the mid-13th century, illustrating a common devotional theme with characteristic stylistic elements of the period.