Saint Nicholas of Bari
Medium
Tempera and gold leaf on wood panel
Dimensions
unframed: 96.2 × 32 cm · framed: 109 × 41 × 6 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Medieval Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of the Hanna Fund
Accession Number
1952.111
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
About this artwork
Saint Nicolas of Bari, patron saint of children, sailors, and travelers, and the prototype of Father Christmas, was bishop of Myra (Lycia) in Asia Minor during the AD 300s. His remains were said to have been taken to Bari in Italy during the 11th century. The saint is shown vested as bishop in an elaborately embroidered cope, fastened with a morse, and holding a crosier. By the mid-1400s, most Florentine artists had stopped using gold backgrounds in their pictures, preferring instead naturalisti...