The Damnation of the Soul of the Miserly Citerna

Sassetta's panel depicting the damnation of the miserly soul of a man from Citerna belongs to the narrative cycles from the life of Saint Francis that Sassetta painted for the high altar of the Franciscan church at Sansepolcro, completed in 1444. This altarpiece, one of the masterpieces of 15th-century Sienese painting, depicted episodes from the Franciscan tradition on both its front and back faces, with the back panels including miracle stories associated with the saint. The Citerna episode shows divine justice overtaking a man who had refused charity — a morality tale particularly relevant to the Franciscan emphasis on poverty and the spiritual dangers of wealth.

Sassetta's narrative style is among the most poetic in Italian painting: figures move through architectural and landscape settings that feel simultaneously specific and dreamlike, with gold sky providing the eternal frame for temporal action. His color is the peculiarly beautiful Sienese range — pale rose, dusty blue, warm gold — applied with extraordinary refinement.