St. Louis of Toulouse

Lorenzo di Niccolò was a late Trecento Florentine painter working in the tradition of Agnolo Gaddi and the Giottesque school. This depiction of St. Louis of Toulouse, the Franciscan bishop-saint who renounced his royal claim to Naples, served as a devotional image promoting the ideals of voluntary poverty embraced by the mendicant orders. The painting reflects the widespread veneration of Louis of Toulouse in late fourteenth-century Italy, where his cult was actively promoted by the Angevin dynasty and the Franciscans.

Executed in egg tempera on a gold-ground panel, the work features the characteristic layered modeling of Florentine late Gothic painting. The bishop's vestments are rendered with fine punchwork decoration in the gilded areas and careful attention to the fall of liturgical drapery.