Work of Saint Philip Benizi

Cosimo Rosselli's 1476 panel depicting works from the life of Saint Philip Benizi was painted as part of the Servite Order's programme of promoting their recently beatified founder, who would receive full canonisation in 1671 but whose cult was actively cultivated from the late fifteenth century onward. Philip Benizi had been General of the Servites and had reportedly refused election as pope in 1268 by fleeing to the mountains — an act of humility the order promoted as evidence of heroic sanctity. Rosselli was a reliable Florentine workshop painter who executed major commissions including sections of the Sistine Chapel, and his hagiographic narrative cycles show careful attention to the readable clarity that such devotional programmes required. The panel formed part of a broader hagiographic commission for a Florentine Servite foundation.

Rosselli's narrative panels are characterised by legible spatial staging: figures are placed in a clear foreground-to-background progression through an architectural or landscape setting. His figure types are stocky and grounded, with emphatic gestural communication that prioritises narrative clarity over formal elegance. The palette is bright and varied, using costume colour to distinguish character roles within the scene.