Saint Peter

This Saint Peter by Niccolò di Ser Sozzo Tegliaccio, dating to around 1335, exemplifies the refined decorative tradition of the mid-Trecento Sienese school. Niccolò was both a painter and an accomplished illuminator, and his panel paintings retain the jewel-like precision of manuscript art. Now in the Courtauld Gallery, London, the work represents the second generation of Sienese painters who carried forward the legacy of Duccio and Simone Martini with an emphasis on ornamental elegance.

Egg tempera on gold-ground panel with exceptionally fine punch-work tooling in the halo, reflecting Niccolò's training as a manuscript illuminator. The figure is rendered with precise, calligraphic contours and the richly patterned surfaces characteristic of Sienese Gothic decorative painting.