Adoring Saints: Left Main Tier Panel

This panel of Adoring Saints forms the left main tier of Lorenzo Monaco's San Benedetto altarpiece of 1408, now in the National Gallery, London. The work was created for the Camaldolese church of San Benedetto fuori della Porta Pinti in Florence, reflecting the close connection between monastic patronage and artistic production. Lorenzo Monaco — Piero di Giovanni — was a Camaldolese monk who became one of Florence's most gifted painters in the transition between the Gothic and the Early Renaissance.

Lorenzo Monaco arranges the saints in a rhythmic composition of interlocking forms, using his luminous color palette and flowing linear style to create a unified devotional image within the polyptych format.