Madonna and Child with the Donor, Pietro de' Lardi, Presented by Saint Nicholas, ca. 1420?30, Tempera and gold on wood, Overall 45 7/8 x 43 5/8 in. (116. 5 x 110. 8 cm) ; painted surface 44 1/8 x 41 3/4 in. (112. 1 x 106 cm), Paintings, Master G. Z. (possibly Michele dai Carri, Ferrara, active by 1405?died 1441 Ferrara), Pietro de' Lardi, who commissioned this important work-a votive altarpiece-became deputy general to Borso d'Este, duke of Ferrara, in 1452. According to the long inscription, it was painted sometime between 1400 and 1431, when Pietro Boiardi was bishop of Ferrara