St Nicholas of Tolentino performing a Miracle

Franciabigio painted this Saint Nicholas of Tolentino Performing a Miracle around 1515, depicting the Augustinian friar's miraculous powers in a narrative format that contrasted with the more common static saint portrait. Saint Nicholas of Tolentino, canonized in 1446, was famous for miracles involving the resurrection of the dead, the healing of the sick, and the liberation of souls from purgatory. Working as Andrea del Sarto's closest collaborator in Florence, Franciabigio brought Raphaelesque clarity and compositional balance to Augustinian subjects while maintaining the warmth and naturalism of the Florentine tradition. The narrative format required Franciabigio to manage both the miraculous action and its reaction among the witnesses, testing his compositional abilities beyond the simpler devotional panel.

The panel shows Franciabigio's accomplished narrative style with clear spatial organization, animated figure groups, and the warm palette characteristic of the Andrea del Sarto circle.