STARNINA, Gherardo di Jacopo
(b. ca. 1354, Firenze, d. 1409/13, Firenze)

Thebaid (detail)

c. 1410
Tempera on wood
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

Thebais, the Roman province of upper Egypt, was home to the first Christian monks, the desert fathers, who lived in these communities of single cells until the persecutions of the fourth century. The rhythmic treatment of the cliffs endows the scene with grandeur, while the individual vignettes rewards close viewing.