Saint Lucy

Jacopo del Casentino's Saint Lucy (c. 1340) depicts the early Christian martyr associated with sight and light, shown holding her traditional attributes. Active in Florence during the second quarter of the fourteenth century, Jacopo was a conservative painter who maintained the formal, hieratic qualities of early Trecento art while his contemporaries moved toward greater naturalism. He was among the founding members of the Compagnia di San Luca, Florence's painters' guild, in 1339.

Painted in egg tempera on gold ground panel, the saint's figure is rendered with strong outlines and flat decorative patterning in the vestments. The compressed spatial arrangement and frontal presentation reflect an older iconic tradition favored by Jacopo's conservative workshop.