Saints Gregory and Bartholomew

The panel, which is the left compartment of a polyptych of which no other elements have yet been identified, depicts Saint Gregory the Great as pontiff, with the dove of the Holy Spirit, and Saint Bartholomew the apostle, recognizable by the knife, symbol of his martyrdom. The two saints occupy the space with imposing silhouettes, wrapped in large draperies; the modeling of the faces and hands is plastically highlighted, while the absorbed expressions do not let any emotion leak out. The wooden support, formed by four vertical axes, was cut along the upper margin and deprived of the original cuspidated termination. The right half of the pope's face seems worn-out, and partly redone, while other more or less small retouches can be seen in the beard of Saint Bartholomew, in the robes of both saints and along the right edge of the table.