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Saint Nicholas Providing Dowries

1433–35
Not on view
In the top scene, Saint Nicholas, Bishop of Myra (270–343)—the original "Saint Nick"—is shown throwing three balls of gold through a window, providing the dowry of three poverty-stricken maidens. In the other painting he resuscitates three youths who had been pickled by an innkeeper during a famine (a story treated by Benjamin Britten in his 1948 cantata, Saint Nicholas).

The panels formed the base (predella) of an altarpiece painted between 1433 and 1435 for a monastery in Florence. Their design was based on an altarpiece by Gentile da Fabriano of 1425.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Saint Nicholas Providing Dowries
  • Artist: Bicci di Lorenzo (Italian, Florence 1373–1452 Florence)
  • Date: 1433–35
  • Medium: Tempera and gold on wood
  • Dimensions: 12 x 22 1/4 in. (30.5 x 56.5 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Gift of Coudert Brothers, 1888
  • Object Number: 88.3.89
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

More Artwork

More Artwork
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Saints John the Baptist and Matthew, Bicci di Lorenzo Italian, Tempera on wood, gold ground
Saints John the Baptist and Matthew
Bicci di Lorenzo
possibly 1433
Saint Nicholas Resuscitating Three Youths, Bicci di Lorenzo Italian, Tempera and gold on wood
Saint Nicholas Resuscitating Three Youths
Bicci di Lorenzo
1433–35
Saint Catherine of Siena Exchanging Her Heart with Christ, Giovanni di Paolo (Giovanni di Paolo di Grazia) Italian, Tempera and gold on wood
Saint Catherine of Siena Exchanging Her Heart with Christ
Giovanni di Paolo (Giovanni di Paolo di Grazia)
The Agony in the Garden, Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio or Santi) Italian, Oil on wood
The Agony in the Garden
Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio or Santi)
ca. 1504
Madonna and Child, Vincenzo Foppa Italian, Tempera, oil, and gold on wood
Madonna and Child
Vincenzo Foppa
ca. 1480

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