Painted on a dark background in miniaturistic style are delicate grotesques on which racemes and leaves bloom, small rosary and scapular crowns hung on branches, and fantastic animals. In one panel the Saints Sebastian, Anthony of Padua and a Bishop are depicted (MV 40341). The other panel shows the Saints Rocco, Clare of Assisi and possibly Saint Venantius with a banner (MV 40345).  Each panel has three superimposed saints, the lowest Saint standing on a plinth and the other two on gothic-style shelves.

The precarious condition of the two panels and the desire to verify their attribution to the painter Vincenzo Pagani from the Marché region (as was assigned by the current bibliography) are reasons that led to the restoration of these delicate works.

The study of the works’ accompanying documents allowed researchers to trace the ownership of the panels back to their first known location in 1811 at the Civic Palace of Ripatransone where they were deposited during the French requisitions, dismantled from an altarpiece from an unknown Franciscan church probably located in the Marché.

In 1844 the Municipality of Ripatransone donated the two panels together with other works to Pope Gregory XVI (1831-1846) for the Pinacoteca at the Lateran. In 1909 the two panels entered into the Pinacoteca di S. Pio X (1903-1914) and now, after the restoration, they will return to Room 9 of the current Vatican Pinacoteca (1932).

A careful study of the pictorial material and the style with which the brush-painted characters are realized on the black background decorated with polychrome grotesques allowed restorers to collect data on the material constituents of these works, confirming the different palette and the different modes of execution in depicting characters and grotesques compared to the ways of Vincenzo Pagani and his workshop.

A study is currently underway to identify the artistic personalities involved in the construction of the pilars, which are now believed to have been made in Ripatransone in the first quarter of the 16th century by a painter linked to the late fifteenth-century Umbrian-Marchigiana tradition and culture.

To date, the altarpiece to which the panels were placed side by side and the church of origin remains unknown.

These paintings needed complete cleaning of the surface and touch-up because of the oxidation of the original varnish. Both the pieces appeared to be a little damaged with some fissures and cracks.

• Consolidation of wooden panels
• Cleaning and consolidation of the pictorial surfaces
• Touching-up of the pictorial surfaces
• Photographic documentation
• Application of varnishes