PIERO DELLA FRANCESCA
(b. 1416, Borgo San Sepolcro, d. 1492, Borgo San Sepolcro)

Polyptych of St Augustine: St Nicholas of Tolentino

c. 1465
Tempera on panel, 133 x 60 cm
Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan

In 1454 Piero agreed to paint a polyptych for the Augustinians of Borgo San Sepolcro; the painting was to be finished within eight years and was intended for their monastery. As usual, the work was not completed until much later. The polyptych later dismembered and the panels were scattered. It was only in the twentieth century that scholars succeeded in reconstructing this work. Among the parts of the polyptych that have unfortunately not survived there is also the central panel which represented the Virgin Enthroned.

St Nicholas of Tolentino was one of the four side panels depicting four saints (St Augustine and St Michael at the left side and St John the Evangelist and St Nicholas of Tolentino at the right).

St Nicholas of Tolentino is a more original figure than the others in the polyptych: the austere and calm features of his round face almost create a the effect of a portrait.




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