Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index



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  • Title: Panel from the Humility Polyptych - Umilta leaves Faenza and arrives at the gates of Florence
  • Creator: Lorenzetti, Pietro, painter, attributed to
  • Description: Umiltà of Faenza (born Rosanese Negusanti) was an abbess and holy woman. In Florence, she founded the Monastery of San Giovanni Evangelista, a Vallombrosian house for women. This is one of the fourteen panels of the Humility Polyptych, which was constructed to celebrate Umiltà’s life and miracles. On this panel, Umiltà is depicted twice in order to signify the beginning and the end of her journey. Stylistically, the incorporation of the mountain serves to separate the journey scene into two parts and it makes the narrative about Umiltà clear. In the upper left portion of this panel, Umiltà is shown kneeling before St. John the Evangelist who instructs her to leave Faenza and head to Florence. The inclusion of St. John here is important because it reinforces the notion that Umiltà acted with divine guidance and support. In the center of the painting, Umiltà is shown at the conclusion of her journey. Her hands are clasped in prayer as she stands with her two female traveling companions outside the gates of Florence.
  • Source: Umilta Website
  • Rights: Reproduced with permission
  • Subject (See Also): Abbesses Hagiography Monasticism Travel Umilta of Faenza, Mystic and Saint Women in Religion
  • Geographic Area: Italy
  • Century: 14
  • Date: 1335-1340
  • Related Work: Humility Polyptych. See a reconstruction of the polyptych on the Feminae website.
  • Current Location: Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
  • Original Location: Florence, Monastery of San Giovanni Evangelista, a Vallombrosan house for women founded by Umiltà
  • Artistic Type (Category): Digital images; Paintings
  • Artistic Type (Material/Technique): Polyptych; Wood panel
  • Donor: Lay woman? [Cordelia Warr in her article cited above suggests the kneeling donor figure in the polyptych is a lay woman based on her clothing, pp. 296-297.]
  • Height/Width/Length(cm): 45 cm/37 cm/
  • Inscription:
  • Related Resources: ordelia Warr, “Viewing and commissioning Pietro Lorenzetti’s Saint Humility Polyptych,” Journal of Medieval History 26, 3 (2000), Janet G. Smith, "Santa Umilta of Faenza: Her Florentine Convent and Its Art", Visions of Holiness: Art and Devotion in Renaissance Italy, [Athens, GA], Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia, 2001