Favourite Paintings: 'The Madonna of the Swallow' by Carlo Crivelli

Another favourite painting is 'Madonna of the Swallow' by Carlo Crivelli, a Venetian painter from the late 15th Century. He has quite a distinctive style and most of his works are full of lots of detail, often with swags of flowers or fruit hanging in strange places in the painting. One reason I like it is that, as well as being a great painting, it's in its original frame, so this is what Italian altarpieces looked like around 1490.

We have the Virgin and Child flanked by saints Jerome and Sebastian, both of whom are looking a bit peeved. Jerome has his symbols of the bishop's hat, his books and the lion while Sebastian is clothed for once and holds an arrow. The Virgin is crowned and enthroned and above her is a swallow on the lintel, hence the name of the altarpiece. The predella (the paintings underneath the main painting) shows St Catherine of Alexandria, Jerome in the wilderness, the nativity, Sebastian's martyrdom and St George with the dragon. There's probably a very good reason why these five scenes make up the predella but I don't know why.   

Whenever I see this painting I try to find another detail I haven't noticed before, puzzle about St Jerome seems so cross and insistence and why Sebastian seems to be practicing his dance steps in front of his Lord while reminding him with the arrow that he died in his name. The bowls of flowers at the top of the painting intrigue me - who waters them?

If you're lucky enough to be able to get to the National Gallery in London then give yourself a few minutes to look at this painting properly and see what you can find in it.