![]() The robes of the man in blue swirl behind him – a visual shorthand conveying his speed. The saint restores him to life, as young men in clerical robes – who appeared in the first panel of the series – and several other distressed onlookers run to the scene. Here, a woman holds her dead son on her lap, wailing dramatically the boy had been in Zenobius’s care while she was in Rome. The scene is the first of several in the series that show the saint reviving a person from death. The central scene is set before a large brick palace, its door and windows bordered with the grey stone, called pietra serena, used in much fifteenth-century Florentine architecture. Saint Zenobius had prayed for a long time before a Crucifix, show here within the single arcade that Botticelli has used to stand in for the church. According to Mazza, the woman had brought the boys to the church of San Salvator to pray for their healing. Botticelli has used gesture to express the drama of the event even the demons raise their arms in distress. Their mother, dressed in green, is shown beside them, her arms covering her face in horror. The curse made them bite themselves and is represented by two demon-like creatures or devils that emerge from their mouths as the saint makes the sign of the Cross over them. ![]() The miracle on the left shows Saint Zenobius curing two young men who have been cursed by their mother for beating her. It shows three of the saint’s miracles, set in Florence. This panel is a continuation of his life story, which had been published by a priest called Clemente Mazza 20 years earlier. The first, Four Scenes from the Early Life of Saint Zenobius shows the saint’s conversion, baptism and ordination as Bishop of Florence. The first two panels in the series are in the National Gallery’s collection. This panel belongs to a series of four paintings that show the life of Florence’s patron Saint, Zenobius.
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