St. Damian

Giovanni di Pietro Falloppi's St. Damian, painted around 1500 and now in the Gemäldegalerie Berlin, is likely one panel from a polyptych altarpiece in which individual saints occupied separate compartments flanking a central Madonna or Crucifixion. Damian was one half of the twin physician-saints Cosmas and Damian, patron saints of physicians and surgeons — and, crucially, patrons of the Medici family, who used the saints' images extensively in their commissions. Giovanni di Pietro Falloppi worked in the Ferrara-Emilia region and this panel may have formed part of a larger altarpiece program. The companion panel of Saint Cosma is also in the Gemäldegalerie, confirming the two were originally paired.

The saint is depicted as a single standing figure against a gold or plain ground, holding his medical attributes. The panel format suggests original placement in a polyptych. Northern Italian influence shows in the solid modeling of the figure and the careful rendering of the physician's robes and instruments.