A Bishop Saint and Saint Nicholas of Tolentino

Zanobi Machiavelli's Bishop Saint and Saint Nicholas of Tolentino belongs to this Florentine painter's production of devotional altarpiece panels, working in the tradition of Pesellino and Benozzo Gozzoli. Machiavelli maintained a productive workshop in Florence during the second half of the fifteenth century, serving churches and private patrons with altarpieces that maintained the clear compositional organization and warm coloring of the Florentine tradition while introducing the gentle grace that characterized his personal style. Nicholas of Tolentino, the Augustinian mystic who was canonized in 1446, was among the more recently sainted figures in fifteenth-century Italian devotional art.

Executed in Tempera on panel, the work showcases Zanobi Machiavelli's skilled technique, with particular attention to the interplay of light across the sitter's features. The handling of drapery and accessories demonstrates the skill expected of formal portraiture.