David Ghirlandaio, The Burial of St. Zenobius

Circa 1479
Tempera and gold on wood
Metropolitan Museum of Art, 13.119.2, Francis L. Leland Fund, 1913

Several of St. Zenobius's vitae tell of his death. None refers to a tearful funeral procession led by four bishops as seen here, but the painting does befit the tone of the accounts. One of them says he was buried there "with the greatest honor" and that his clergy sorrowed while he was dying (Acta Sanctorum, May vol. 6, 56). In another "the clergy and populace adorned his body with spices and buried it with the greatest devotion near the altar of St. Lawrence" (ibid, 53). That vita says the saint urged his companions not to mourn for him, but in the image they are of course doing just that.

This is one of three panels set in a single frame. The others are The Marriage of the Virgin and Tobias and the Angel.

Read more about images of St. Zenobius.

• Home Page
• Iconography of St. Zenobius
• This Page

Photographed at the church by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.