Description
These two cusps once belonged to the Carmine Altarpiece, completed by Pietro Lorenzetti in 1329 for the church of San Niccolò del Carmine in Siena. Both are now preserved in Siena’s Pinacoteca Nazionale. One portrays Saint Thomas and James the Less; the other depicts Jude Thaddeus and Bartholomew. A bust of an unidentified prophet appears above each pair. Repeated pointed arches, slender dividing columns and gold grounds demonstrate how the painter organized separate panels through a shared architectural language.
The cusps originally occupied the upper level of the polyptych and extended its religious programme beyond the large figures of the Virgin and saints. The apostles refer to the New Testament, while the prophets represent the Old, establishing a visible continuity between the two. This catalogue image is a documentary montage: the first reproduction remains black and white, while the second records the surviving colours of the other panel.
