Spinello Aretino

Medieval parishioners were inspired by Saint Anthony’s example of poverty and prayer, and Spinello portrays him here as a spiritual teacher, seated beneath an image of Christ and attended by two patrons. The small black pig at lower right symbolizes his intercession on behalf of the sick, including those suffering from St. Anthony’s fire, a skin disease caused by infected grain.

Monumental in size, the painting may have adorned a structural pier in an oratory (or chapel), such the one in Orsanmichele, an enclosed grain market that became the central guild hall in Florence.