Saint Helena and another Saint (?) – Lindenau Museum – Altenburg
The two panels, depicting Saint Helena and another unidentified Saint, were originally part of the Pala della Santissima Annunziata, one of the largest and most prestigious polyptychs of Renaissance Florence, commissioned in 1500 by the friars of the church of Santa Maria dei Servi.
Designed by the architect and carpenter Baccio d’Agnolo (1462-1543), the structure of the altarpiece, in the form of a triumphal arch in classic style, housed numerous panels placed on the front, back and sides. Initially, the realization of the tables was entrusted to Filippino Lippi, who died on 20 April 1504; on 5 August 1505 the task then passed to Perugino, who finished the work in 1507.
The panels of the polyptych, now dismembered, are currently preserved in various museums scattered around the world (with the exception of the Assumption of the Virgin, which remained in a side chapel of the church of the church of the Santissima Annunziata in Florence): the Deposition is at the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence; Saint John the Baptist and Saint Lucy (or Saint Illuminated by Todi) are currently kept at the Metropolitan Museum in New York; Saint Catherine from Alexandria is in a private collection in Rome and Saint Philip Benizi at the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica, also in Rome.
The two panels in question, Saint Helena and the unidentified Saint, are instead preserved at the Lidenau Museum in Altenburg; both saints are depicted in niches, whose semi-dome is supported by pilasters that end with Doric capitals from which frameworks marked with gold and green marble run around the perimeter of the architecture.
Saint Helena, elegantly dressed in a red robe and a golden cloak hanging from her left shoulder, turns to the left and points to the right with one hand, while with the other hand holds a book; the other saints, dressed as a monk,wears a simple black tunic and is immersed in the reading of a tome, while holding a lilies, symbol of purity.
The two works are preserved at the Lindenau Museum in Altenburg.
