Saint Bernardino saves a dead man

Saint Bernardino raises a dead man in this early panel from 1473 at the National Gallery of Umbria, a companion piece to the prison miracle scene from the same cycle. The paired miracles form part of the campaign for Bernardino"s canonization, documenting the supernatural events attributed to his intercession. Both panels date from Pinturicchio"s earliest period, when he was approximately nineteen. Pinturicchio — Bernardino di Betto — was the master of decorative fresco in late fifteenth-century Rome, executing major commissions for Pope Innocent VIII in the Belvedere, Pope Alexander VI in the Borgia Apartments, and Pope Pius III in the Piccolomini Library in Siena.

The resurrection miracle is staged in an architectural setting that creates a frame for the supernatural event, with the dead man"s revival depicted through the reactions of the surrounding witnesses. The early technique shows Pinturicchio still developing his mature manner, with somewhat stiffer figure poses than his later work. The narrative is clearly told despite the artist"s youth, and the palette already shows the bright, decorative quality that would characterize his mature work.