The Trinity Adored by All Saints
Valencia, circa 1400
Tempera and gold on wood
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fletcher Fund, 1939, 39.54.
In upper register of the central panel is a crucifixion scene. The artist has taken pains to include all the implements related to all the physical torments Jesus suffered, as well as the ladder and tongs used in removing him from the cross after his death. The two thieves are shown with their arms behind the crosspiece, a common feature in late medieval crucifixion scenes. See this page for a large detail photograph of the scene, with further commentary.
The middle register of the central panel is a surprisingly incomplete "Throne of Mercy" image, flanked on the left by the Virgin Mary but with no imagery on the right. See this page for a large detail photograph of the scene, with further commentary.
The bottom half of the center panel is the pièce de résistance. Against a deep blue field of twinkling golden stars, St. Michael and the angels drive Satan and his minions into the fiery maw of Hell, imagined as a great fish similar to Leviathan. See this page for a large detail photograph of the scene.
The side panels feature Old Testament prophets in the uppermost register, apostles and evangelists in the next one down, martyrs in the third register, confessors in the fourth, and virgins in the bottom register. For commentary and large detail photographs, see this page for the left side and this page for the right side.
The altarpiece was originally in the Valldecrist Monastery in the Valencian Community.
View this image in full resolution.
Read more about the Trinity, The Crucifixion, and St. Michael the Archangel.
Photographed at the museum by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.