LORENZETTI, Ambrogio
(b. ca. 1290, Siena, d. 1348, Siena)

Scenes from the Life of St Nicholas

c. 1332
Tempera on wood, 96 x 52,5 cm
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

The panel (and another also in the Uffizi) came from the church of St Procolo in Florence where it was recorded by Vasari. Presumably it was painted as side wing of a triptych which had a figure of St Nicholas in the central panel (which has disappeared) during the second visit of Ambrogio to Florence between 1327 and 1332, or later. Another possibility is that the panels made up a tabernacle door.

The upper scene represents the resurrection of the dead child. In the lower scene Nicholas, as bishop of Myra saves the town from famine by miraculously drying and multiplying the sacks of wheat which had fallen into the sea.