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Notes
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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.
Title
Saint Sabinus before the Governor of Tuscany (?)
Date
about 1335-42
Medium
Tempera on poplar
Measurements
H 37.5 x W 33 cm
Accession number
NG1113
Acquisition method
Presented by Charles Fairfax Murray, 1882
Work type
Painting