Saint Nicholas of Tolentino Saving a Shipwreck

Saint Nicholas of Tolentino Saving a Shipwreck from 1457 depicts a miracle of the Augustinian saint who was canonized in 1446. The recent canonization made Nicholas a popular subject for Italian painters, and the maritime rescue scene allowed Giovanni di Paolo to depict a dramatic seascape unusual in his predominantly land-based compositions. Characteristic of the artist's mature approach, the work displays brilliant, jewel-like color, gold grounds, lyrical figure types of Gothic grace, perspectival experiments that create strange compressed spaces, intense narrative invention.

The sea scene is rendered with Giovanni di Paolo's characteristic schematic approach to natural forms, with stylized waves and the saint's miraculous intervention creating a compelling narrative.