Griffoni Polyptych: St Lucy

1473 · National Gallery of Art, Washington

religious

This painting together with its counterpart representing St Florian belonged to the Griffoni Polyptych and were probably located on the upper part of the side panels. A plant form with eyes held by the saint refers to the medieval legend that Saint Lucy, patron saint of eyesight, sacrificed her eyes for her Christian faith.

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About the Artist

Francesco del Cossa

1435 – 1477

Italian painter, active mainly in Ferrara, where with Cosmè Tura and Ercole de' Roberti he was the leading artist of the period. His style has many affinities with that of Tura and the same background of development from Mantegna and Piero della Francesca, but Cossa's work reveals a more genial temperament and relaxed urbanity. This found expression in the delightful frescoes of the Months in the Palazzo Schifanoia at Ferrara; Cossa, Roberti, and Tura are all thought to have contributed to the scheme, but Cossa seems to have been the leading master. In the early 1470s he moved to Bologna, where he painted an altarpiece for the Griffoni Chapel in the church of San Petronio (1473); the central panel is in the National Gallery, London.

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