07 Works, Today, May 25th is Zenobius of Florence' day, his story in Paintings #145

Andrea Orcagna, 14th century

Saint Zenobius

Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence, Italy

Andrea Orcagna, (c. 1320—1368), was a eading Florentine artist of the third quarter of the 14th century, a painter, sculptor, architect, and administrator In 1343/4 he was admitted to the painters' guild in Florence and in 1352 to that of the masons. His only certain work as a painter is the altarpiece of The Redeemer with the Madonna and Saints (1354–7) in the Strozzi Chapel of S. Maria Novella. Colours are resplendent, with lavish use of gold, and the figures are remote and immobile. As a sculptor and architect he is known through one work, the tabernacle in Orsanmichele a highly elaborate ornamental structure housing a painting of the Virgin Enthroned by Bernardo Daddi. Orcagna was capomaestro of Orvieto Cathedral from 1358 to 1362, supervising the mosaic decoration of the façade. He was also an adviser on the construction of Florence Cathedral. During 1368 he fell mortally ill while painting the St Matthew altarpiece (Uffizi, Florence) and this work was finished by his brother Jacopo di Cione (d1398/1400), who worked in his style and continued it to the end of the century. More on Andrea Orcagna

Saint Zenobius (Italian: San Zanobi, Zenobio) (337–417) is venerated as the first bishop of Florence.

Sandro Botticelli, (1445–1510)

Baptism of Saint Zenobius, between 1500 and 1505

Tempera on panel

Height: 66.5 cm (26.1 in); Width: 149.5 cm (58.8 in)

National Gallery, London

Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, known as Sandro Botticelli (1445 –1510), was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. He belonged to the Florentine School.  Botticelli's posthumous reputation suffered until the late 19th century; since then, his work has been seen to represent the linear grace of Early Renaissance painting.

Botticelli was born in Florence. He was initially trained as a goldsmith. There are very few details of Botticelli's life, but it is known that he became an apprentice when he was about fourteen years old. By 1462 he was apprenticed to Fra Filippo Lippi; many of his early works have been attributed to the elder master, and attributions continue to be uncertain. Influenced also by the monumentality of Masaccio's painting, it was from Lippi that Botticelli learned a more intimate and detailed manner.

By 1470, Botticelli had his own workshop. His work was characterized by a conception of the figure as if seen in low relief, drawn with clear contours, and minimizing strong contrasts of light and shadow which would indicate fully modelled forms.

In the mid-1480s, Botticelli worked on a major fresco cycle for Lorenzo the Magnificent's villa near Volterra; in addition he painted many frescoes in Florentine churches. In 1491 he served on a committee to decide upon a façade for the Cathedral of Florence.

Botticelli never wed, and expressed a strong disliking to the idea of marriage, a prospect he claimed gave him nightmares. More on Sandro Botticelli

Born of a Florentine noble family, Zenobius was educated by his pagan parents. He came under the influence early of the bishop Theodore, and was baptized by him, and succeeded, after much opposition, in bringing his father and mother to Christianity. He embraced the clerical state, and rapidly rose to the position of archdeacon, when his virtues and notable powers as a preacher made him known to Saint Ambrose, at whose instance Pope Damasus I (r. 366–386) called him to Rome, and employed him in various important missions, including a legation to Constantinople. On the death of Damasus he returned to his native city, where he resumed his apostolic labours, and on the death of the bishop of that see, Zenobius, to the great joy of the people, was appointed to succeed him. His deacons are venerated as Saint Eugene and Saint Crescentius. He evangelized Florence and its outskirts completely and combated Arianism.

Sandro Botticelli, (1445–1510)

Three miracles of Saint Zenobius, between 1500 and 1505

Tempera on panel

Height: 66.5 cm (26.1 in); Width: 149.5 cm (58.8 in)

National Gallery, London

According to his biographer and successor in the See of Florence, Antonius, he died in his ninetieth year, in 424; but, as Antonius says that Pope Innocent I (d. 417) was at the time pope, the date is uncertain.

Sandro Botticelli  (1445–1510)

Last Miracle and the Death of Saint Zenobius, circa 1500

Tempera on poplar wood

Height: 66 cm (25.9 in); Width: 182 cm (71.6 in)

Collection

 Dresden, Germany

Extraordinary miracles, including several instances of the restoration of the dead to life, are attributed to him. Zenobius is said to have resurrected several dead people. It is also said that after his death, a dead elm burst into life after his body touched it while being borne to the cathedral for burial.

Domenico Veneziano (c. 1410 – May 15, 1461)

St Zenobius Performs a Miracle, c. 1445

Tempera on wood

28 x 32 cm

Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

Domenico Veneziano (c. 1410 – May 15, 1461) was an Italian painter of the early Renaissance, active mostly in Perugia and Tuscany.He worked at the decorations of the Portinari chapel in the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova in Florence from 1439–1445, and had as his assistants Piero della Francesca and Bicci di Lorenzo. It is certain that whilst employed there he used linseed oil as his medium, since the hospital books of that date make many allusions to this item in his expenses. His latter days were spent in Florence, where he died on May 15, 1461. More on Domenico Veneziano

Benozzo Gozzoli, (1420–1497)

Zenobius raises a dead boy, c. 1461

Gemäldegalerie, Berlin

Benozzo Gozzoli, also called Benozzo di Lese, (born c. 1421, Florence [Italy]—died Oct. 4, 1497, Pistoia), early Italian Renaissance painter whose masterpiece, a fresco cycle in the chapel of the Medici-Riccardi Palace, Florence, reveals a new interest in nature (a careful study of realistic detail in landscape and the costumed figure) and in the representation of human features as definite portraiture.


Gozzoli’s work as a whole has a rather empty facility, but in the latter commission, his “Procession of the Magi” reveals an artist of great decorative talent, with a pronounced gift for landscape and portraiture. By 1463 he was working at San Gimignano on a cycle of 17 scenes from the life of St. Augustine in the choir of Sant’Agostino and on a fresco of St. Sebastian (1464). Between 1469 and 1485 he painted his most extensive commission, a series of 25 frescoes of Old Testament scenes for the Campo Santo (cemetery), Pisa. More on Benozzo Gozzoli

A legend states that a child was once run over by a cart while playing. His mother, a widow, wailed as she brought the dead child to Zenobius' deacon. By means of a prayer, Saint Zenobius revived the child and restored him to his mother.

Davide Ghirlandaio,  Italian, Florence 1452–1525 Florence)

The Burial of Saint Zenobius, ca. 1479

Tempera and gold on wood

6 1/4 x 16 1/4 in. (15.9 x 41.3 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

According to legend, at the burial of Saint Zenobius a dead tree sprang to life when it was touched by the saint's bier. The baptistery and campanile of the cathedral of Florence provide the setting. Florence appears in the background of the scene where Tobias catches a fish whose innards will heal his father’s blindness.

Davide Ghirlandaio (1452–1525), also known as David Ghirlandaio and as Davide Bigordi, was an Italian painter and mosaicist, active in his native Florence.


His brothers Benedetto Ghirlandaio (1458–1497) and Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449–1494) were both painters, as was his nephew Ridolfo Ghirlandaio (1483–1561). Davide was an assistant to, and then a partner of, his brother, the leading painter Domenico. After Domenico's death, Davide took over the studio and trained Domenico's son Ridolfo. He was active in the mosaic decoration of the Orvieto Cathedral. More on Saint Zenobius

There are grounds for believing that he actually died in 417, on 25 May, on which day the ancient tower where he is supposed to have lived, near the Ponte Vecchio, was annually decorated with flowers. More on Saint Zenobius

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