Den hellige Blasius

This panel depicting Saint Blasius (Den hellige Blasius) by Andrea di Bartolo, now in the National Museum in Oslo, demonstrates the wide European market for Sienese devotional painting in the late fourteenth century. Andrea, the son and pupil of Bartolo di Fredi, carried the Sienese Gothic tradition into the early fifteenth century with refined elegance. Saint Blasius, a fourth-century bishop and martyr, was invoked against diseases of the throat and was one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers venerated throughout medieval Christendom.

Painted in egg tempera and gold leaf on panel, the single standing saint is rendered with Andrea di Bartolo's characteristically refined line and delicate color sense. The bishop's liturgical vestments are depicted with meticulous attention to ornamental detail against a tooled gold ground.