(Siena 1405–1481)
The Preaching of Saint Bernardino,
tempera on panel, 24.5 x 38.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private collection, USA, 1932;
Collection of Edward Hutton (1875–1969), London, by 1957;
Private European collection

Literature:
T. Borenius, Recent acquisitions in America. Shorter notice. The sermon of San Bernardino, in: The Burlington Magazine, LX, 1932, p. 116, ill. plate III (as Sano di Pietro);
B. Berenson, Italian pictures of the Renaissance, Central Italian and North Italian school, London 1968, vol. 3, p. 376 (as Sano di Pietro);
K. Christiansen, L. Kanter, C. Brandon Strehlke, La Pittura senese nel Rinascimento 1420-1500, Milan 1989, p. 178 (as Sano di Pietro);
J. W. Cyril, The Imagery of San Bernardino da Siena, 1991, p. 168, fig. 35 (as Sano di Pietro)

The present painting depicts The Preaching of Saint Bernardino (Bernardino degli Albizzeschi, Massa Marittima 1380 - Aquila 1444) in Piazza del Campo in Siena, in front of Palazzo Pubblico, which is recognisable thanks to the architectural details and to the “balzana”, i.e. the city’s coat-of-arms.

The Saint is depicted in a pulpit while showing the Christian trigram, a symbol of the “Holy Name of Jesus”, to worshippers at prayer on their knees, assisted by a kneeling friar. The pulpit and the marble enclosure surrounding the scene are covered and adorned with botanical tapestries, which was typical decoration at the time. The composition is carefully calibrated between the architectural structures and the space between the characters, painted with vivid expressions of devotion.

The painting is given to Sano di Pietro, a painter and miniaturist who was active in Siena throughout most of the fifteenth century. He was the author of significant artworks for the leading institutions of the Tuscan city such as the Opera in the Duomo and the Magistratures in Biccherna, and he chose to depict this Franciscan Saint, canonised in 1450 by Pope Nicholas V, on several occasions. Two panels at the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo in Siena depicting San Bernardino Preaching in the San Francesco Churchyard and San Bernardino Preaching in Piazza del Campo, both painted in 1448 in a large vertical format, are iconographically and stylistically similar to the present painting.

The dimensions of the present work indicate that it was most probably intended as part of a predella for an altarpiece, and therefore part of a larger ensemble painting destined to hang above the church altar. It is reasonable to stylistically link the present work to other predella panels forming part of the Rucellai collection in Florence, and in particular, to the one depicting the Miracle of Donna Perna.

The subject was chosen because of the intensive preaching activities performed by the Saint in Siena where, in 1425, he held 50 sermons against usury, leading to the approval of a legislation regulating the matter. This painting probably dates back to a few years after 1450, the year in which the Saint was canonised. Bernardino’s head is in fact surrounded by a distinctively visible halo.

We are grateful to Alessandro Tomei for his help in cataloguing the present painting.