St Paul

Andrea Vanni's Saint Paul (c. 1390) at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, presents the Apostle to the Gentiles in a devotional format characteristic of late Sienese Gothic painting. Andrea Vanni was a prominent Sienese painter and politician who also served as an ambassador to the papal court at Avignon, and his art reflects the cosmopolitan connections of Siena's ruling class. He was a close associate of Saint Catherine of Siena, and his painting combines the decorative refinement of the Sienese tradition with a directness of expression shaped by the intense spiritual environment of late Trecento Siena.

Tempera and gold on panel depicting the saint in a half-length or standing format with his traditional attributes of book and sword. Andrea Vanni's style shows firm, clear draftsmanship with bold coloring and simplified modeling, set against a tooled gold ground with decorative punchwork.