"In the beginning was the word". An altarpiece by Ambrogio Lorenzetti for the Augustinian hermits of Massa Marittima.

'Through a study of iconography and textual evidence, explains the theological and devotional significance of L's Maestà altarpiece (Massa Marittima, Palazzo del Podestà, Pinacoteca), and suggests a date for the work of ca.1335-37. Shows that the painting, which survives only in part, was commissioned by the Augustinian hermits of Massa Marittima, for their church of S. Pietro in Orto (S. Agostino). Examines the iconography of saints and virtues depicted in the work, associating the figures represented with Augustinian theology, and demonstrates that the order which commissioned it likely had a deep familiarity with the writings of Augustine, possibly through the intermediary of Fra Simone Fidati, a member of the Tuscan order of Augustinian hermits, who wrote treatises in the vernacular on specifically Augustinian themes' (BHA).