On view
Beheading of Saint Paul,
1398–1400
Surrounded by onlookers, Saint Paul’s body slumps forward with his wrists crossed and his severed head facing upward. The saint’s executioner, dressed in a yellow robe, returns his sword to its sheath. While Paul’s grisly martyrdom for following Christ and practicing the new religion based on his teachings is the central subject of this panel, another, later scene takes place in the background. According to legend,the saint met a Christian woman named Plautilla en route to his execution. In the upper-left corner, Monaco depicted an angel returning the veil that Plautilla lent Paul to shield his eyes from the execution, a sign that the saint—now in heaven—remembered her loyalty.
Information
1398–1400
- Marvin Julius Eisenberg, The origins and development of the early style of Lorenzo Monaco, (Princeton, NJ: [unpublished thesis], 1954)., Thesis
- The Art of painting in Florence & Siena from 1250 to 1500: a loan exhibition in aid of the National Trust and the National Art-Collections Fund, 24 February-10 April, 1965, (London: Wildenstein & Co, Inc., 1965)., p. 18
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Luciano Bellosi, "Da Spinello Aretino a Lorenzo Monaco", Paragone. Arte 16, no. 87 (1965): p. 18-43.
, p. 37 - Alvar Gonzalez-Palacios, "Indagini su Lorenzo Monaco", Paragone. Arte no. 241 (1970)., fig. 29
- B. B. Fredericksen and F. Zeri, Census of pre-nineteenth-century Italian paintings in North American collections, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1972)., p. 104
- Boskovits, Miklós, Pittura fiorentina alla vigilia del Rinascimento, 1370-1400, (Firenze: Edam, 1975)., p. 353
- Federico Zeri, Italian paintings in the Walters Art Gallery, (Baltimore, MD: Walters Art Gallery, 1976)., Vol. 1: p. 26-27
- Guy C. Bauman, The miracle of Plautilla's Veil in Princeton's "Beheading of Saint Paul", Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 36, no. 1 (1977): p. 3-11., p. 3-11; fig. 1; p. 4 (detail)
- Donald Garstang, Gothic to Renaissance: European painting, 1300-1600, (London: Colnaghi, 1988)., p. 80-82; no.10.
- Miklos Boskovits, Frühe italienische Malerei, (Berlin: Gebr. Mann, 1988)., p. 87, pl. 147
- Marvin Eisenberg, Lorenzo Monaco, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1989)., p. 186-188; p. 201-202, fig. 223;
- Barbara T. Ross, "The Mather years 1922-1946," in "An art museum for Princeton: the early years", special issue, Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 55, no. 1/2 (1996): p. 53–76., fig. 12, p. 63
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Angelo Tartuferi and Daniela Parenti, ed., Lorenzo Monaco: guida alla mostra [= a guide to the exhibition] (Florence: Giunti Editore, 2006).
, New Color Transparencies, three-month rental
