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Italian before 1460
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Master of the Rinuccini Chapel (Matteo di Pacino ?) (Italian, active from about 1350-75)
St. Cosmas and St. Damian, about 1370-75
Tempera and gold leaf on panel. 52 3/4 x 30 5/8 inches (134x77.8 cm)
Gift of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, 60.17.9
The brothers St. Cosmas and St. Damian were physicians in the third century. In the narrative scene on the left below the main panel, they are shown removing a man's cancerous leg and replacing it with the leg of a Moor who has recently died. The right panel depicts the martyrdom of the saints, who were put to death by a Roman governor for refusing to abandon their Christian beliefs; the soul of one saint is portrayed as an infant borne heavenward by angels. In the main panel, they are attired in the robes of fourteenth-century physicians. Although they hold books to symbolize great learning, the presence of the figure of God above conveys the idea that their powers of healing are God-given. |
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