Master of the Beffi Triptych, The Madonna and Child with Scenes from the Life of Christ and the Virgin (The Beffi Triptych), early 15th century. Tempera on panel. Museo Nazionale d’Abruzzo, L’Aquila.

On February 6, 2010 the NMA will unveil a rare early 15th Century altarpiece – the Beffi Triptych, on loan to us from the National Museum of Abruzzo, about sixty miles northeast of Rome. The city of L’Aquila suffered a devastating earthquake on April 6, 2009, which killed over 300 people and left thousands homeless. In gratitude for the aid sent immediately by the United States, the Italian government has loaned the triptych to three museums in the U.S. -- The National Gallery, The Getty, and the Nevada Museum of Art. What an honor to be one of those three!

The altarpiece consists of a main panel depicting the Virgin and Child, with side panels showing the Nativity and scenes from the life of the Virgin. It is a perfect example of Italian Gothic art, and is a rarity because all three panels are intact. So many of these fine altarpieces have been taken apart, and are housed separately in museums and private collections. The Beffi Triptych has also survived terrible earthquakes. In 1915, after a violent earthquake, it was removed from its original church in the small town of Beffi, and moved to the National Museum of Abruzzo, housed in a 16th Century fortress in nearby L’Aquila. That museum was terribly damaged in the 2009 earthquake. The altarpiece suffered only a few scratches, which have been repaired.

We will have the unique pleasure of viewing this triptych as it would have been seen by its parishioners in its original church, Santa Maria del Ponte. We can imagine how it must have been when the side panels were opened, and the people could see the stories familiar to them done in rich colors and gleaming gold. In the corner of one panel is the donor, with different colored leggings. We don’t know who that patron was, nor do we know the name of the artist, who is known simply as the Master of the Beffi Triptych.

What a wonderful development -- to have at the same time at our museum, examples of the very start of the Italian Renaissance, with this triptych, and of the very zenith of the High Renaissance, with Raphael’s La Velata!