Pinacoteca Room V

Figures, buildings and landscapes fill the long panel of the Miracles of St Vincent Ferrer. Several episodes take place within one continuous space. Rather than looking for one main event, let your eyes find a group, then follow the architecture toward another. Ercole de’ Roberti painted this work in 1473 as the predella, the lower part of an altarpiece, for the Griffoni Chapel in San Petronio in Bologna. The larger altarpiece was made by his teacher, Francesco del Cossa. Its parts are now divided among collections. Vincent Ferrer was a Spanish saint whose cult was established in Bologna. The episodes shown include healing and rescue, with people gathered around the figures involved. The panel’s narrow shape gave the painter room for a rapid succession of stories below the main image. Imagine it as the lower register of an altar, where small events could accompany the much larger figure above.