Lorenzo Monaco was the outstanding painter in Florence during the first quarter of the fifteenth century—before the appearance of Masaccio, Masolino, and Fra Angelico—and the undisputed master of the so-called International Gothic Style. These four pictures of Old Testament patriarchs rank among Lorenzo's masterpieces. While the brilliant coloring and refined treatment of details recall his work as a miniaturist, the solid treatment of forms relates them to contemporary Florentine sculpture—especially that of Ghiberti and Nanni di Banco. A fifth, somewhat damaged panel showing Saint Peter (private collection) seems to have belonged to the series, the arrangement and function of which remain conjectural (were they for a secular setting, such as the courtroom of the Mercanzia?).

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