Bicci di Lorenzo

Saint Romuald

Florence, about 1425-50

Tempera on wood

34.3 x 22.8 cm

Following on from his father Lorenzo di Bicci (1350-1427), Bicci ran an important art workshop in Florence selling religious objects like this one. His own son, Neri di Bicci (1419-1492), continued the business and his Saint John the Baptist Entering the Wilderness is also in the Barber collection. The Bicci family were among the most productive painters of their time. They served both ruling families (including the Medici) and the merchant classes.

In this panel, Bicci di Lorenzo has painted Saint Romuald (951-1027). Romuald was the founder of the Camaldolese order, named after the retreat in Camaldoli, Tuscany, where he first formed his group of followers. He is not a common saint in Italian paintings, and only appears in relation to Camaldolese commissions. Traditionally, Romuald is depicted in a long, white habit with a greying beard, holding either a building, book, or staff. Bicci has painted Romuald holding a building, symbolising his authority over the religious order.

Based on the small size of this object, it is likely to have been commissioned by a Camaldolese monk. They valued a reclusive, simple life of serving others and prayer. This object would have been extremely precious to them. It may have hung on the wall of a monk’s private cell in a Camaldolese church or monastery in Florence. Alternatively, it may have formed a part of a standard that was processed in the church during festivals.

Purchased 1950 (No. 50.6)

Further reading:

Kaftal, George, Iconography of the saints in Tuscan painting, Florence, 1952, pp. 895-98.

Offner, Richard, ‘The Mostra del Tesoro di Firenze Sacra-II’, in The Burlington Magazine, 63/367, 1933, p. 170.

Respaldize, Pedro Jose, ‘Late Gothic Mural Paintings in the Monastery of San Isidoro del Campo, Seville’, in Late Gothic Painting in the Crown of Aragon and the Hispanic Kingdoms, ed. Alberto Velasco and Francesco Fite, Leiden, 2018, pp. 531-65.