Saint Bernardinus among Angels

This Saint Bernardinus Among Angels by Andrea Mantegna, held in the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan, depicts the Franciscan friar Bernardino of Siena (1380-1444), who was canonized in 1450 — within Mantegna's own lifetime. Bernardino was one of the most celebrated preachers of the fifteenth century, known for his fiery sermons and his promotion of devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus. The relatively recent canonization would have made this a timely devotional image, and Mantegna's treatment invests the new saint with the same monumental dignity he brought to ancient subjects.

The saint is depicted with Mantegna's characteristic sculptural precision, his gaunt, ascetic features rendered with the sharp linear clarity that defines the artist's approach to portraiture and devotional subjects. The attending angels demonstrate the crisp, classicizing style that Mantegna brought to even the most recent religious subjects.