Pietro Lorenzetti and Workshop, 'Saint Sabinus before the Roman Governor of Tuscany', 1335-42
About the work
Overview
In the 1330s the Sienese city council commissioned four altarpieces showing scenes from the life of the Virgin Mary, the city’s protector, to decorate the cathedral. This panel by Pietro Lorenzetti, one of the city’s most important artists, comes from the altarpiece dedicated to the birth of the Virgin which was placed upon the altar of Saint Sabinus, one of the city’s patron saints.
The scene comes from the lower part of the altarpiece, called the predella. It shows the moment, according to legend, that the saint smashed a pagan idol – the small goddess in white robes – in order to demonstrate the powerlessness of Roman deities. Sabinus was thought, mistakenly, to be the first Bishop of Siena. Here he is shown wearing a bishop’s mitre, accompanied by his two deacons who were tortured to death as punishment for his act. Eventually, however, Sabinus converted the Roman Governor, Venustianus, seated on the right on a regal stool made to resemble twisted lion’s forms. Both men were martyred for their faith.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Saint Sabinus before the Roman Governor of Tuscany
- Artist
- Pietro Lorenzetti and Workshop
- Artist dates
- active possibly 1306; died probably 1348
- Date made
- 1335-42
- Medium and support
- egg tempera on wood
- Dimensions
- 37.7 × 33.2 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Presented by Charles Fairfax Murray, 1882
- Inventory number
- NG1113
- Location
- Gallery B
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Previous owners
- Frame
- 14th-century Sienese Frame (original frame)
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Dillian Gordon, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Italian Paintings before 1400’, London 2011; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Exhibition history
-
2024Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300-1350The Metropolitan Museum of Art7 October 2024 - 26 January 2025The National Gallery (London)8 March 2025 - 22 June 2025
Bibliography
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1723A. Landi, Descrizione overo racconto di pitture, di statue e di altre opere eccellenti, che si ritrovano nel Duomo della città di Siena, Siena 1723
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1854G. Milanesi, Documenti per la storia dell'arte senese, 3 vols, Siena 1854
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1875J.A. Crowe and G.B. Cavalcaselle, Storia della pittura in Italia dal secolo II al secolo XVI, 3 vols, Florence 1875
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1929E.T. De Wald, 'Pietro Lorenzetti', Art Studies, VII, 1929, pp. 131-66
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1929G. Sinibaldi, 'Pietro Lorenzetti', in U. Thieme and F. Becker (eds), Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, Leipzig 1929, vol. 23, pp. 387-8
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1930E. Cecchi, Pietro Lorenzetti, Milan 1930
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1930C.H. Weigelt, Sienese Painting of the Trecento, Florence 1930
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1933G. Sinibaldi, I Lorenzetti, Siena 1933
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1939P. Bacci, Dipinti inediti e sconosciuti di Pietro Lorenzetti, Bernardo Daddi, etc., in Siena e nel contado, Siena 1939
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1947P. Hendy, An Exhibition of Cleaned Pictures of 1947: (1936-1947), London 1947
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1951Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, London 1951
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1951C. Volpe, 'Ambrogio Lorenzetti e le congiunzioni fiorentine-senesi nel quarto decennio del Trecento', Paragone, XIII, 1951, pp. 40-52
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1973A. Preiser, Das Entstehen und die Entwicklung der Predella in der italienischen Malerei, Hildesheim 1973
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1981E. Carli, La pittura senese del Trecento, Milan 1981
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1984H.B.J. Maginnis, 'Pietro Lorenzetti: A Chronology', Art Bulletin, CXVI, 1984
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1986Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, revised edn, London 1986
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1986E.H. Beatson, N.E. Muller and J.B. Steinhoff, 'The St Victor Altarpiece in Siena Cathedral: A Reconstruction', Art Bulletin, LXVIII, 1986, pp. 610-31
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1988Gordon, Dillian, National Gallery Catalogues: The Early Italian Schools before 1400, revised edn, London 1988
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1989C. Volpe, Pietro Lorenzetti, Milan 1989
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1991J. Dunkerton et al., Giotto to Dürer: Early Renaissance Painting in the National Gallery, New Haven 1991
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1994A. Thomas, An Illustrated Dictionary of Narrative Painting, London 1994
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
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2011Gordon, Dillian, National Gallery Catalogues: The Italian Paintings before 1400, London 2011
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.
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