Francesco di Stefano, known as Pesellino, first established his reputation and that of his workshop in Florence through small-scale devotional paintings. But by the mid-1450s his focus had shifted to large-scale altarpieces. His first, The Virgin and Child Enthroned with Saints (about 1453), in the collection of the Louvre, was a trial by fire.
The project necessitated lengthy contractual negotiations and multiple stages of drawings – Pesellino was an acclaimed draughtsman, drawing day and night, recalled Giorgio Vasari, a leading architect of the history of renaissance art – including preliminary sketches, compositional designs, and underdrawings for the painting. However, technical analysis shows that Pesellino had to make significant revisions late into the production process.
