Lady Perna Being Cured on Approaching St Bernardino's Body

This scene of Lady Perna being cured approaching Saint Bernardino's body depicts one of the posthumous miracles that were central to the canonization proceedings of Bernardino of Siena, who died in 1444 and was canonized with extraordinary speed in 1450. Sano di Pietro was the primary painter of the Bernardino cult, producing numerous panels depicting the Franciscan preacher's life and posthumous miracles for the churches and confraternities devoted to the new saint. These miracle panels served both devotional and documentary functions—establishing the saint's power through depicted evidence and providing visual focal points for the cult practices that developed around his tomb in L'Aquila.

The miracle narrative is rendered with Sano di Pietro's characteristic clarity and devotional warmth, the healing scene depicted with the visual directness that made his Saint Bernardino paintings effective instruments of popular devotion.