St Peter.

This panel of St. Peter by Andrea Vanni, painted around 1390 and now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, represents one of the leading painters of late fourteenth-century Siena. Andrea Vanni was not only a painter but also a diplomat and politician who served on the Sienese governing council and as an ambassador. His art maintains the refined, decorative qualities of the Sienese tradition while reflecting his personal devotion — he was famously close to St. Catherine of Siena and painted her portrait from life.

Tempera and gold on panel. Andrea Vanni depicts the apostle with the characteristic Sienese emphasis on elegant line and rich surface decoration, rendering St. Peter's keys and papal attributes with careful attention against a burnished gold ground.