SPINELLO ARETINO
(b. ca. 1345, Arezzo, d. 1410, Arezzo)

The Miracle of the Sickle

1388
Fresco
Sacristy, San Miniato al Monte, Florence

In scene 10 on the north wall, the miraculous retrieval of the blade of the sickle is depicted. A certain Goth, who desires to be admitted to the monastery, is instructed by Benedict to remove briar underbrush from the side of a lake with a sickle. The blade of the sickle becomes loose and falls from the handle of the sickle in the water; the blade of the sickle reattaches itself to its handle, as if by its own will.