Saint Cosma

Giovanni di Pietro Falloppi's Saint Cosma, painted around 1500 and now in the Gemäldegalerie Berlin, is the companion panel to his Saint Damian, together representing the twin physician-saints who were the patrons of the Medici family and of medical practitioners throughout Christian Europe. Cosmas and Damian were Arabian brothers who practiced medicine free of charge and were martyred under Diocletian — their legend of charitable healing making them central figures in both medical and religious culture. The pair of panels in the Gemäldegalerie preserves a fragment of what was likely a larger altarpiece in which these medical martyrs flanked a central devotional image in a Northern Italian religious setting.

Saint Cosma stands as a single figure holding his medical attribute — typically a urine flask or surgical instruments — in the polyptych panel format. The figure is solidly modeled in the North Italian manner. The treatment of drapery and the saint's calm, dignified bearing reflect the Ferrarese-Emilian tradition.