elemosina di san nicola

Bicci di Lorenzo's Elemosina di San Nicola (Charity of Saint Nicholas) depicts one of the most popular episodes from the legend of the bishop of Myra: his nighttime distribution of dowry gold to the three daughters of an impoverished nobleman, dropping bags of gold through their window to save them from prostitution. Bicci di Lorenzo was a prolific Florentine workshop painter active from around 1400 to 1452, whose output ranged from large altarpieces to small devotional panels, consistently serving the conservative taste of Florentine merchant and ecclesiastical patrons who valued legible narrative and traditional iconography over the new naturalistic experiments of Masaccio and his circle.

The night setting of the Nicholas charity legend presents a painterly challenge that Bicci di Lorenzo navigates through conventional rather than experimental means: the window is indicated architecturally, the sleeping daughters arranged decoratively, and Nicholas identified by his bishop's vestments. The scene is lit for legibility rather than atmospheric effect.