Perugia Altarpiece

The Perugia Altarpiece is a magnificent work by Fra Angelico, an early Renaissance painter from Italy. This masterpiece is housed in the Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria in Perugia, Italy. Originally created for the St. Nicholas Chapel in the Basilica of San Domenico in Perugia, the altarpiece was later divided, with some parts ending up in the Pinacoteca Vaticana. To preserve its original composition, copies of these panels were made in Perugia and placed in a neo-Gothic frame.

This polyptych, a painting divided into multiple panels, features a central piece depicting the Madonna Enthroned with Child and Angels, entirely painted by Fra Angelico. The side panels portray saints such as St. Dominic, St. Nicholas, St. John the Baptist, and St. Catherine of Alexandria. The central Madonna is rendered in the Maestà style, seated on a throne viewed from a geometric perspective. The painting includes symbolic elements like vases filled with roses.