St. Michael and Stories from His Life

St. Michael, the knightly archangel, appears in the central compartment having subdued the devil. The upper lateral paintings illustrate two appearances of the angel in Italy: on the right at the Castel Sant’Angelo in Rome, and on the left in the province of Gargano. The lower sides represent saints John the Baptist and Homobuono, patron of merchants and tailors. A Crucifixion crowns this polyptych contained within one frame.

The Neapolitan confraternity of tailors commissioned this painting for their church of San Michele e Omobono around 1492. The painter, Francesco Pagano, is best known for frescoing the cathedral of Valencia, Spain during the 1470s and 80s, along with the Ferraresi Paolo de San Leocadio and the Sicilian Riccardo Quartararo. Pagano’s eclectic, international style had a decisive impact on the next generation of Neapolitan painters.