Saint Peter Released from Prison

Jacopo di Cione's Saint Peter Released from Prison, painted around 1370, depicts the miraculous liberation of the apostle by an angel as recounted in Acts 12, a narrative subject particularly appropriate for altarpieces dedicated to Saint Peter. This panel likely formed part of a predella or narrative cycle within a larger Florentine altarpiece ensemble. Jacopo's workshop produced numerous such narrative panels for churches across Florence, maintaining the storytelling traditions established by Giotto while adapting them to the more decorative sensibility of late Trecento taste.

Egg tempera and gold on panel with a compact narrative scene set within an architectural prison interior. The composition balances the Gothic gold ground with rudimentary spatial depth in the architectural setting, reflecting the transitional approach of late Trecento Florentine narrative painting.