Lorenzo di Niccolò Gerini
Martyrdom of Saint Agatha, traceable 1392–1411
On wood, From a polyptych
42.0 cm × 32.6 cm
Palazzo Cini a San Vio, Venice, Fondazione Cini
Saint Agatha of Sicily (231 AD – 251 AD) is a
Christian saint and virgin martyr. Agatha was born at Catania or Palermo,
Sicily, and she was martyred in approximately 251. She is one of seven women,
who, along with the Blessed Virgin Mary, are commemorated by name in the Canon
of the Mass.
She is the
patron saint of Catania, Molise, Malta, San Marino, and Zamarramala, a
municipality of the Province of Segovia in Spain. She is also the patron saint
of breast cancer patients, martyrs, wet nurses, bell-founders, bakers, fire,
earthquakes, and eruptions of Mount Etna.
Although the martyrdom of Saint Agatha is
authenticated, and her veneration as a saint had spread beyond her native place
even in antiquity, there is no reliable information concerning the details of
her death. According to Jacobus de Voragine, Legenda Aurea of ca. 1288, having
dedicated her virginity to God,[ fifteen-year-old Agatha, from a rich and noble
family, rejected the amorous advances of the low-born Roman prefect Quintianus,
who then persecuted her for her Christian faith. He sent Agatha to Aphrodisia,
the keeper of a brothel. The madam finding her intractable, Quintianus sent for
her, argued, threatened, and finally had her put in prison. Amongst the
tortures she underwent was the cutting off of her breasts with pincers. After
further dramatic confrontations with Quintianus, represented in a sequence of
dialogues in her passio that document her fortitude and steadfast devotion,
Saint Agatha was then sentenced to be burnt at the stake, but an earthquake
saved her from that fate; instead, she was sent to prison where St. Peter the
Apostle appeared to her and healed her wounds. Saint Agatha died in prison,
according to the Legenda Aurea in "the year of our Lord two hundred and
fifty-three in the time of Decius, the emperor of Rome." More on
Saint Agatha of Sicily
Niccolò di Pietro Gerini (c. 1340 – 1414) was
an Italian painter of the late Gothic period, active mainly in his native
Florence. He was not an innovative painter but relied on traditional
compositions in which he placed his figures in a stiff and dramatic movement.
In 1368,
Niccolò Dipintore is identified as a member of the Arte dei Medici e Speziali
Guild, in Florence.
As is
typical for Gothic depictions, Gerini's figures have large chins, sloping
foreheads, and sharp noses whilst their bodies are squat and frontally
displaced.
Gerini collaborated with
Jacopo di Cione on a Coronation of the Virgin (Accademia, Florence) in 1372. It
was commissioned by the mint of Florence Zecca Vecchia that same year. In 1383
Gerini again worked with Cione on a fresco of the Annunciation in the Palazzo
dei Priori, Volterra. This fresco clearly shows the work of two very different
artists: Niccolò di Pietro Gerini (design and very fine painting) and Jacopo di
Cione (broadly painted saints and side decoration).
Between 1391 and 1392 he worked in Prato where he frescoed Palazzo
Datini and the Church of San Francesco with Lorenzo di Niccolò and Agnolo
Gaddi. He also frescoed the capitals of the church of San Francesco,
Pisa. More Niccolò
di Pietro Gerini
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