St Bernardino Preaching

St Bernardino (1380-1444) was a Franciscan friar from Siena and the most important travelling preacher in early 15th-century Italy. He is preaching from an outdoor pulpit on the facade of a church, which has been ‘opened up’ to reveal the interior. The artist has used the new rules of perspective to focus attention on the crucifix at the centre of the composition. Following custom the women are divided from the men by a curtain. The artist’s name is unknown. He was probably one of Vecchietta’s talented associates working in Siena and may have been Francesco di Giorgio Martini (1439-1501).