The Healing of the Cripple

In the square, there are two elegantly dressed characters in the centre of the scene, who separate but also provide the link between the two miraculous events. The presence of these two figures, and also the characters depicted in the background in front of the houses, make the two events look like normal everyday occurrences in the life of a city. The square resembles a contemporary Florentine piazza, the houses in the background, although none of them is strictly speaking an accurate portrayal of an existing building, convey the idea of Florentine architecture, as we still know it today. Even the paving of the street, different from that of the square, is a note of pure realism: the cobblestones, decreasing in size as they recede, also serve to emphasize the perspective of the composition.

The Raising of Tabitha

Other elements contribute to this description of everyday city life: the flower pots on the window sills, the laundry hanging out to dry, the bird cages, the two monkeys, the people leaning out of the windows to chat with their neighbours, and so on.

In the past, the loggia to the left had been considered by critics to be architecturally fragile and unconvincing. But now, thanks to the restoration, we can make out the structural elements: from the smooth capitals of the pilasters to the red plaster inside the courts.

And even in the righthand loggia, where the miracle of the raising of Tabitha takes place, the classical, Albertian colour pattern of the surfaces and the entablatures increases the solidity of the architecture.