(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;
Almagià collection, Rome;
thence by descent to the present owner

Literature:
T. Borenius, Recent acquisitions in America. Shorter notice. The sermon of San Bernardino, in: The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, LX, 1932, p. 116, illustrated;
B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Central Italian and North Italian schools, London 1968, vol. I, p. 376;
K. Christiansen in: K. Christiansen, L. Kanter, C. B. Strehlke, La Pittura senese nel Rinascimento 1420-1500, Milan 1989, p. 178;
J. W. Cyril, The Imagery of San Bernardino da Siena, 1991, pp. 65-66, p. 168, fig. 35

The present painting once belonged to the collection of Edward Hutton, an English writer and one of the founders of the British Institute of Florence. Hutton was known for his writing on Italian subjects. At the beginning of the twentieth century he moved to Florence, where he knew English residents such as Bernard Berenson, and developed an interest in Italian art.

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.

Sano di Pietro was active in Siena throughout most of the fifteenth century. He was the author of significant works for the leading institutions of the 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 one depicting the Miracle of Donna Perna.

The subject depicts the Saint preaching. In 1425, he held 50 sermons in Siena against usury which lead to legislation regulating the matter. The present painting probably dates to circa 1450, the year in which the Saint was canonised. Bernardino’s is in fact depicted with a distinctively visible halo.

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