Processional Banner

Spinello Aretino created this processional banner near the end of his long and productive career, which spanned the last four decades of the fourteenth century. Processional banners were carried through streets during religious festivals, civic celebrations, and penitential processions, serving as mobile devotional images that brought sacred art into public space. Such banners were typically painted on both sides and required a bold, legible style visible at a distance.

Painted in egg tempera on fabric or panel, the banner employs the large-scale figural style that Spinello developed through his extensive experience with fresco cycles across Tuscany. The composition is designed for maximum visual impact with strong contours, bright colors, and simplified forms readable from a distance during processions.