St. Francis and St. Mary Magdalen with St. Isaiah

The Bagatti Valsecchi panel flanked the central panel, once in the St. Julian Chapel in Santa Croce (Florence), today in the Medici chapel in the same church. The other side panel, featuring St. Julian and St. Ludwig of Toulouse belonging to the Florentine gallery system, is listed as "on external deposit". In this late phase, Lorenzo moves away from the monumental forms of Spinello towards a more linear elegent verticality influenced by the Late Gothic painting of Lorenzo Monaco or the Master of Baldese/of the Strauss Madonna. The original frame unites the two saints in two contiguous spaces; above them on the frame is the Prophet Isaiah. Probably purchased by the brothers Fausto and Giuseppe at the end of the 19th century, the panel is still displayed--as are all other objects in the museum--in its original place, thus contributing to the authentic "time capsule" ambiance.