Gothic altarpiece in Rome.

The tiny church of Santa Barbara dei Librai, by the Campo de' Fiori, hosts a unique, rather than rare, example of late Medieval, early Renaissance art in Rome. An altarpiece by Leonardo da Roma, that shows the transition of the two styles, while these works are quite common in northern Lazio or Umbria, after the Counter-Reformation they became obsolete in Rome, especially as Rome at the time, unlike Florence was a city of mosaics and frescoes, rather than altarpieces - and several were removed from churches, this one example is a wonderful surviving testimony of a lost past. It is not in the great innovators and master that we see the style of the time, but in the works of these minor artists, they open a window into the artistic scene of their own time. In this case, the Gothic frame and gilded background merge with tridimensional figures that show a new sense of movement and balance that was rising from antiquity, a sign of the reborn arts that were to come during the second half of the 15th century. The Renaissance was breathing its first breath.

Madonna with Child and St. Michael and St. John the Baptist, Leonardo da Roma, c. 1450, Santa Barbara dei Librai, Rome.