The hl. Zenobius raises a dead boy

The miraculous raising of a dead boy by St. Zenobius — the first bishop of Florence — was a foundational story of Florentine civic religion, and Gozzoli's treatment of this miracle belongs to the same Florentine civic devotion that made his Magi Chapel frescoes so celebrated. Zenobius's miracles were depicted across Florentine art as acts of divine validation for the city's spiritual heritage, and Gozzoli's version would have served both devotional and civic-historical purposes. The dramatic subject — a dead child restored to life before witnesses — gave Gozzoli an opportunity for the kind of joyful, detailed crowd narrative at which he excelled.

Gozzoli's handling of miracle narratives draws on his training with Fra Angelico and his observation of Ghiberti's bronze relief compositions — clear spatial staging, differentiated witnessing figures, and the miraculous central action framed by expressive bystanders whose reactions guide the viewer's own response.