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Original fileIncidents in the Life of Saint Benedict, 1409, London NG
About This Work
The painting presents a series of monastic miracles set within a stylized, rocky landscape featuring a green-walled monastery. On the left, Saint Benedict sits in prayer within a cave, while in the center, Saint Maurus walks upon the water to pull the young Saint Placidus to safety. To the right, Benedict and his fellow monks gather around a white-clothed table, illustrating the structured communal life of the order.
As a product of the Camaldolese monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Florence, this work represents the monastic environment that preceded and informed the Florentine Renaissance. The Rule of Saint Benedict established the ascetic and intellectual framework within which many classical and late-antique philosophical texts were preserved and transmitted by Western scribes.
Connected Texts
Gregory the Great, Dialogues
Book II of the Dialogues is the primary biographical source for the life and miracles of Saint Benedict depicted here.
The Rule of Saint Benedict
The painting illustrates the monastic virtues of obedience and communal living codified in this foundational Western text.