Saint Dominic

Bernardo Daddi's Saint Dominic (c. 1350) at the Palazzo Pretorio Museum depicts the founder of the Dominican order, one of the most powerful religious organizations in medieval Florence. The Dominicans' great Florentine church of Santa Maria Novella was a major center of art patronage, and Daddi received numerous commissions from the order and its associated confraternities. Daddi's gentle, approachable rendering of saints made his work particularly effective for devotional purposes, helping to foster the personal, intimate relationship with sacred figures that Dominican spirituality encouraged.

Tempera and gold on panel with the saint depicted in the black and white habit of the Dominican order, holding a book and lily. Daddi's refined technique features soft, rounded modeling of the face, graceful linear contours, and a luminous gold background with delicate punchwork decoration.