Altarpiece with Christ, Saint John the Baptist, and Saint Margaret

Altarpiece with Christ, Saint John the Baptist, and Saint Margaret

Andrea da Giona

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

At the center of this finely carved relief, heavenly angels with musical instruments surround the figure of Christ in Majesty. At the corners are symbols of the four Evangelists, authors of the Gospels. Saints John the Baptist and Margaret, associated with the commissioners of the altarpiece, appear at either side. Above them, in smaller scale, an earlier chapter in the Christian story is evoked by the scene of the angel Gabriel addressing the Virgin Mary with the news that she will be the mother of Jesus. At the time the Knights of Rhodes commissioned this altarpiece, they were notorious heavily armed sailors, pursuing Muslim merchant ships across the Mediterranean, often pillaging their cities and gaining great wealth in the process. The altarpiece is inscribed along the lower edge of the central panel: HOC OPUS FECIT MAGISTER AND[R]EAS DA GIONA MCCCCXXXIIII (This work was made by Master Andrea from Giona 1434).

Medieval Art and The Cloisters

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Altarpiece with Christ, Saint John the Baptist, and Saint MargaretAltarpiece with Christ, Saint John the Baptist, and Saint MargaretAltarpiece with Christ, Saint John the Baptist, and Saint MargaretAltarpiece with Christ, Saint John the Baptist, and Saint MargaretAltarpiece with Christ, Saint John the Baptist, and Saint Margaret

The Museum's collection of medieval and Byzantine art is among the most comprehensive in the world. Displayed in both The Met Fifth Avenue and in the Museum's branch in northern Manhattan, The Met Cloisters, the collection encompasses the art of the Mediterranean and Europe from the fall of Rome in the fourth century to the beginning of the Renaissance in the early sixteenth century. It also includes pre-medieval European works of art created during the Bronze Age and early Iron Age.