Virgin and Child Enthroned with the Four Fathers of the Latin Church, ca. 1540 – 1550

About the Work

Moretto’s ‘Sacra Conversazione’ is one of the few large altar paintings in the Städel. A typical High Renaissance altarpiece, it shows all the figures in a continuous picture space and on a single surface. Depictions of saints had previously been distributed among several separately framed panels. To this day it has not proven possible to identify the original location of this altarpiece and thus to determine the circumstances surrounding its execution. The choice of saints indicates that the altar was dedicated to the Church Fathers Ambrose, Gregory, Jerome and Augustine.