Saint James the Elder, Saint Bernard of Siena, Saint Nicodemus 1482

Carlo Crivelli created this altarpiece depicting Saint James the Elder, Saint Bernard of Siena, and Saint Nicodemus, likely in the late 15th century, using tempera on panel. Tempera, a paint made from egg yolk, was a common medium at the time, prized for its quick-drying properties and the luminous quality it lent to colors. Look at the faces. Notice how each figure has been rendered in precise detail. That's tempera at work. The halos are rendered in gold leaf, carefully applied and burnished to catch the light, providing a sense of divine radiance. Crivelli would have been working within a well-established workshop system. These workshops were organized around the master, who would have designed the composition, but journeymen and apprentices likely assisted with the more labor-intensive processes, such as grinding pigments and applying the gold leaf. Considering the cost of materials like gold and ultramarine, these would have been carefully considered commissions. Crivelli’s altarpiece speaks to the economic and social context of its creation, where artistic skill, workshop collaboration, and expensive material all combined to express religious devotion.