VIVARINI, Bartolomeo
(b. ca. 1440, Murano, d. ca. 1499, Murano)

Pala di San Marco (Triptych of St Mark)

1474
Tempera on panel, 165 x 68 cm (central), 165 x 57 cm (wings)
Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, Venice

The central panel of the triptych represents St Mark, while St John the Baptist and St Jerome are depicted on the left wing, and St Nicholas and St Peter on the right wing.

In this altarpiece the artist accentuates classicising forms with lush decoration and highly pitched colour, making the painting visually compatible with the dynamic, swirling forms of gilt, Gothic frames that had long been popular in his family's workshop. The carving on St Mark's marble throne, though inspired by classical models, is as dense and tightly wound as the tracery on the altar's frame.