St Peter Martyr Altarpiece

A Dominican monk kneels on the ground, bleeding from a severe head wound while an assailant in a red tunic raises a dagger to strike again. As he dies, the monk uses his finger to write a confession of faith on the earth using his own blood. The background features a sparse, rocky landscape typical of early 15th-century Florentine painting.

Representing the Dominican intellectual tradition in Florence shortly before the Neoplatonic revival, this image highlights the defense of orthodoxy against the Cathar heresy. The act of writing the Creed in blood emphasizes the intersection of physical martyrdom and the preservation of sacred text.