St Bernardine of Siena was an important religious and political figure in the second quarter of the 15th century. A Franciscan reformer, and a preacher renowned throughout Italy, he emulated St Francis of Assisi before him in advocating poverty, the imitation of Christ and the return of peace in an Italy riven by conflict between Guelphs and Ghibellines. In this authoritative portrait, Sassetta represents him full-length, in three quarter profile, dressed in the Franciscan habit and holding a tablet adorned with the trigram IHS. This abbreviation of the name of Jesus, which Bernardine urged the faithful to repeat continuously to support their devotion, was on the small panel that the saint showed to crowds wherever he preached. The dove of the Holy Spirit, close to his ear, brings him divine inspiration.

The simplified volumes are characteristic of Sassetta but in this work, the austerity of the style reflects the moral and spiritual austerity of the protagonist. The unusual support format accentuates the elongation of the figure and reflects the saint’s asceticism.

The threadbare predella depicts a sermon by St Bernardine in 1444 to members of the Sienese brotherhood of St John the Baptist of Death, a charity for prisoners condemned to death that was founded in 1425. It dominates this picture in order to commemorate the famous sermon. Bernardine was painted shortly after his death in 1444 at a time when following his beatification, he was represented with rays around his head, which were in turn partly covered by a halo following his canonisation in 1450.

After the saint’s death, his portraits proliferated in Siena, and this deliberately realistic ascetic and bony face became widely known. They were intended to promote his canonisation and compensate for the lack of a body, which remained outside Siena, and the portrait became an object of veneration. The worship and many images of this contemporary figure were in line with the cultural and spiritual changes that began in the 13th century. Contact with the spiritual world now drew on a more concrete imagery, reflecting a growing taste for the tangible and visible. This passion for all things visual became a regular feature of major shows of piety under the Quattrocento. The importance of the visual in religious practice was an essential element in the evangelisation campaign of St Bernardine himself and indeed of all preachers, especially Franciscans.