Manuscript Leaf with the Martyrdom of Saint Bartholomew, from a Laudario

Pacino di Buonaguida's illuminated leaf depicting the Martyrdom of Saint Bartholomew comes from a Laudario, a book of hymns sung by Italian confraternities in devotional gatherings. Active in Florence in the first half of the fourteenth century, Pacino was both a panel painter and a prolific manuscript illuminator whose miniatures combined Giottesque spatial innovations with the jewel-like intensity of the illuminator's craft. The laudario tradition was central to lay religious practice in Trecento Florence.

This manuscript illumination uses tempera and gold leaf on parchment, combining vivid pigments with burnished gilding. Pacino's miniaturist technique achieves remarkable narrative clarity within a small format, with crisp outlines and saturated colors characteristic of Florentine illumination.