St. Nicholas of Bari

Sassetta's Saint Nicholas of Bari, painted around 1430 and now in the Louvre, depicts one of the most universally popular saints of the medieval period. Nicholas was bishop of Myra in Asia Minor and his cult spread throughout Europe, with countless churches, altarpieces, and confraternities dedicated to his patronage. Sassetta — Stefano di Giovanni — was the dominant painter in Siena during the first half of the fifteenth century, maintaining the city's Gothic tradition of refined spirituality and jewel-like color even as Florentine artists were developing the naturalistic revolution of the Early Renaissance.

The bishop saint is rendered in full episcopal vestments with Sassetta's distinctive combination of decorative elegance and subtle naturalistic observation, the richly patterned cope and mitre painted with precision against gold ground.