

Master of the Codex of Saint George (Italian, Florentine, active second quarter of 14th century)
Italian; Probably made in Avignon
Tempera on wood, tooled gold ground
Overall: 18 x 11 3/4 in. (45.7 x 29.8 cm); Painted surface: 15 5/8 x 10 5/8 in. (39.7 x 27 cm)
The Cloisters Collection, 1961 (61.200.1,2)
The deep emotional piety shown in these expressive faces and gestures is made more poignant by the weighty drapery folds modeled in sharply contrasting highlights and shadows, by the vivid coloring, and by the taut composition. The unidentified artist has been linked to a miniature painter who illuminated several manuscripts, including a life of Saint George in the Vatican, for cardinal Stefaneschi, resident at the papal court in Avignon from 1309&150;1341, and a missal, probably for the same patron, in the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York. Also in the Museum's collection is a companion panel, The Lamentation. Both were part of a larger ensemble of hinged panels, two others of which are missing and two of which are preserved in Florence.







