Bachiacca (Francesco d'Ubertino)
St. Nicholas of Tolentino
Circa 1510-15
Oil on panel
Pinacoteca Nazionale, Ferrara, Italy
As usual, this saint is pictured as a young man in the habit of the Eremitani Augustinians, with a sunburst on his breast and a lily stalk in his hands. In the left background, St. Jerome kneels and beats his breast with a stone. (He is identified by a lion and a red hat.) This is a comment on the severities that Nicholas himself undertook. There may also be some other connection with St. Jerome: the two saints are also paired in Lotto's Virgin and Child with SS. Jerome and Nicholas of Tolentino (1523-24).
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Photographed at the site by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.