TheNovitiate Altarpiece orMadonna and Child with Saints is a c. 1440–1445 tempera on panel painting byFilippo Lippi, now in theUffizi in Florence. Asacra conversazione, it originally had apredella painted byPesellino centred on aNativity.[1] The main panel showsCosmas and Damian either side of the Madonna and Child, whilstFrancis of Assisi is shown at far left andAnthony of Padua at far right. On an architectural frieze above the figures are theMedici's heraldic balls.[2]
Entirely in Lippi's own hand,[3] it was probably commissioned byCosimo the Elder, as suggested by the presence of Cosmas and Damian, his family's patrons. It was probably originally intended for the Noviziato chapel inSanta Croce Basilica, of which the Medici were patrons.[4] In 1813, during the Napoleonic suppression of churches and religious houses in Italy, the altarpiece and predella were both taken to Paris. The predella's first two sections remain in theLouvre (St Francis Receiving the Stigmata andThe Healing of Justinian the Canon), whilst the last three are now in the Uffizi with the main work (Nativity and two ), accompanied by copies of the two Louvre sections.[5]
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