Sacra+conversazione

In art, a //**sacra conversazione**// or **sacred conversation** is a depiction of the [|Virgin and Child] (the [|Virgin Mary] with the [|infant Jesus]) amidst a group of [|saints] in a relatively informal grouping, as opposed to the more rigid and hierarchical compositions of earlier periods. The form developed during the Italian [|Renaissance] as artists replaced earlier hieratic [|triptych] or [|polyptych] formats with compositions in which figures interacted within a unified [|perspectival]space.