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#135: By Xavier F. Salomon, Chief Curator Transcript

This monumental figure of St. John the Evangelist was painted between 1454 and 1469 by Piero della Francesca. Of the seven paintings by this artist in American collections, the Frick is home to four of them.

The panel showing a single saint comes from an altarpiece painted for the high altar of the Augustinian church in Borgo San Sepolcro, Piero’s hometown in the upper Tiber valley, in central Italy. The altarpiece featured four saints, which are now divided among museums around the world: a Saint Augustine in Lisbon, a Saint Michael in London, and a Saint Nicholas of Tolentino in Milan. The two pairs of saints originally flanked a now-lost central compartment, depicting either an enthroned Virgin and Child or the Coronation of the Virgin. In the lower left corner of the St. John panel, you can still see the porphyry step of the Virgin’s throne.

St. John appears here majestically clad in a crimson toga-like garment, as much enveloped in it as he is in his reading. John is the author of one of the four Gospels and of the last book of the New Testament: the Book of Revelation (or the Apocalypse). His robe is decorated with jewels and pearls and gold filigree. Yet, for all this lavish ornamentation, the saint is barefoot.

The three other works by Piero and his workshop in this room are from the same altarpiece. The small Crucifixion formed part of the base of the altarpiece and was bequeathed to the Frick by John D. Rockefeller Jr. On each side of St. John are two additional panels. They are half-length depictions of a nun and monk wearing the dark habits of the Augustinian order, and they are possibly Saint Monica (the mother of Saint Augustine) and the Blessed Angelo Scarpetti, a much venerated figure in Borgo San Sepolcro, whose body was buried in the church of Sant’Agostino.

An Augustinian Nun (St. Monica)

 (Italian, ca. 1415–1492)
Date1454–69
MediumTempera on panel
Dimensions15 1/4 x 11 in. (38.7 x 27.9 cm)
Credit LinePurchased by The Frick Collection, 1950
Accession number1950.1.158
Collection History

High altar Sant'Agostino (now Santa Chiara), Borgo San Sepolcro, 1469–1554; probably Sant'Agostino (before 1555, Pieve di Santa Maria), Borgo San Sepolcro, 1555; probably Giuseppe Franceschi Marini (d. 1858), Borgo San Sepolcro 1848; by descent to his son Piero Franceschi Marini, Borgo San Sepolcro until at least 1898; with Stefano Bardini, Florence; Liechtenstein Collection, Vienna by 1911; sold by Walter Feilchenfeldt, Zurich to Knoedler and Co., New York 1950; acquiredby The Frick Collection, 1950.

Source: Piero della Francesca in America: From Sansepolcro to the East Coast. New York: The Frick Collection, 2013.

Not On View
Tempera painting of an Augustinian friar against a gold background
Piero della Francesca
1454−69
Tempera painting of St. John the Evangelist wearing a crimson mantle and blue-green robe
Piero della Francesca
1454−69
Tempera painting of the crucifixion of Jesus with the Virgin Mary and other biblical figures ag…
Piero della Francesca
1454–69
tempera painting of Christ, followed by two angels, extending his right arm towards Satan and s…
Duccio di Buoninsegna
1308−11
tempera or mixed technique painting of the body of Christ resting on the lap of the Virgin Mary…
French, Probably South of France
15th century
tempera painting of the angel Gabriel announcing to the Virgin Mary that she would conceive and…
Fra Filippo Lippi
ca. 1440
tempera painting of Christ placing a crown on the head of the Virgin Mary surrounded by angels …
Paolo Veneziano
1358
tempera and oil painting of the body of Christ resting on the lap of the Virgin Mary and surrou…
Circle of Konrad Witz
ca. 1440
oil and tempera painting of the Virgin Mary and Christ Child against a gold background
French, Probably Burgundian
ca. 1390−1400
oil painting of Doge Giovanni Mocenigo wearing a gold ducal hat and an ermine cape
Gentile Bellini
1478−85
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