The Malvagna Triptych (1513-1515) is a

predella In art a predella (plural predelle) is the lowest part of an altarpiece, sometimes forming a platform or step, and the painting or sculpture along it, at the bottom of an altarpiece, sometimes with a single much larger main scene above, but oft ...

altarpiece by the Flemish artist

Jan Gossaert Jan Gossaert ( – 1 October 1532) was a French-speaking painter from the Low Countries also known as Jan Mabuse (the name he adopted from his birthplace, Maubeuge) or Jennyn van Hennegouwe ( Hainaut), as he called himself when he matriculated ...

located in the Galleria Regionale della Sicilia, in

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

, Sicily. The

triptych A triptych ( ) is a work of art (usually a panel painting) that is divided into three sections, or three carved panels that are hinged together and can be folded shut or displayed open. It is therefore a type of polyptych, the term for all m ...

had arrived, complete, in Malvagna, Sicily by the 1600s. The central panel of the interior depicts a ''Virgin and Child with Musical Putti (child angels)''. The side panels respectively depict St Catherine with a book on her lap, and sword at her feet; and St Dorothy weaving with a cherubic angel a crown of flowers on to a band. On the exterior, when the wings are closed, Adam and Eve in the Garden. Thus the outer frame indicates the acquisition of original sin, while gathering fruit, while the inside depicts our liberation from such sin. One saint uses scripture to defend herself, and for the other, the fruits and flowers are gathered in a crown of martyrdom. In its original frame, this small house altar is the artist's only surviving intact triptych. Maryan Ainsworth on the basis of connoisseurship assessed that the external landscape was painted by

Gerard David Gerard David ( – 13 August 1523) was an Early Netherlandish painter and manuscript illuminator known for his brilliant use of color. Only a bare outline of his life survives, although some facts are known. He may have been the Meester ghera ...

. Gossart and David also worked together on the figures of the interior panels.Opening Doors: The Early Netherlandish Triptych Reinterpreted
By Lynn F. Jacobs, page 248.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Malvagna triptych 1514 paintings Paintings by Jan Gossaert Paintings in Palazzo Abatellis Triptychs