Daniel

Ugolino di Nerio's Daniel (c. 1325) is another prophetic figure from the dismembered Santa Croce altarpiece, the artist's most ambitious Florentine commission. The Old Testament prophet Daniel, associated with visions of the Last Judgment and divine deliverance, held particular significance in medieval Christian typology. The panel's current location in Philadelphia, far from its original Franciscan context in Florence, illustrates the fragmentation of Gothic polyptychs through centuries of dispersal.

Executed in egg tempera on gold ground panel, the prophet is depicted in half-length with a scroll, using the refined linear style inherited from Duccio. The modeling of the face employs the characteristic Sienese technique of green earth underpainting beneath warm flesh tones.