San Lucchese

This image of San Lucchese by Memmo di Filippuccio commemorates the Blessed Lucchese of Poggibonsi, a thirteenth-century Franciscan tertiary who was among the first lay people to join the Third Order of St Francis. Memmo di Filippuccio was a San Gimignano painter active in the early fourteenth century, known primarily for his secular frescoes in the Palazzo del Podestà. The depiction of local blessed figures served to promote their cults and strengthen ties between communities and the mendicant orders.

Executed in tempera on gold ground panel, the figure of San Lucchese is rendered in the straightforward, somewhat archaic style characteristic of smaller Tuscan centers in the early Trecento. Memmo's approach is more linear and less volumetric than contemporary Florentine or Sienese masters.