Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index
Home
What is Feminae?
What's Indexed?
Subjects
Broad Topics
Journals
Essays
All Image Records
Contact Feminae
SMFS
Other Resources
Admin (staff only)
There are 45,452 records currently in Feminae
Quick Search
Advanced Search
Article of the Month
Translation of the Month
Image of the Month
Special Features
Click to view high resolution image
Title:
Panel from the Humility Polyptych - Umilta miraculously leaves the convent of Santa Perpetua and crosses the river Lamone with dry feet
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. In this scene, Umiltà is depicted breaking cloister. According to legend, a voice woke her in the middle of the night and told her to rise. Her departure is intended to be seen as a miraculous event on this panel because its composition emphasizes the impregnability of the monastery, which possesses tall, sheer walls and no visible ground exit. Umiltà is also shown miraculously walking on the water, and this action corresponds with the parts of her
vitae
that say she crossed the river Lamone and emerged from it with dry feet. In the upper left hand portion of the panel, St. John the Evangelist is depicted in conversation with Umiltà. The inclusion of his image here further emphasizes Umiltà ’s connection to the divine.
Source:
Umilta Website
Rights:
Reproduced with permission
Subject
(See Also)
:
Abbesses
Hagiography
Miracles
Monastic Enclosure
Monasticism
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:
Cordelia 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