A Miracle of Saint Benedict

French 15th Century

National Gallery of Art

Two scenes showing monks wearing black hoods and robes take place on this vertical panel painting. The left half is framed by a white stone arch supported on a pillar, which runs down the middle of the composition. Under the arch, a clean-shaven man sits with his body angled to our right. A book is open on his lap, and he holds up his left hand, to our right. He braces a gold-tipped long staff with his other hand, and a gold halo frames his lined face. His hood is down, and he wears a tall, brimless black cap. He sits in a room with a wood floor, wood ceiling, and a bench under an open window on the far wall. The shutters are pulled back to show a continuation of the background landscape on the right half. There, one monk holds another, who is smaller in scale, around the chest as the latter floats or stands in a white body of water. The person in the water holds a bucket limply by his side and looks at us. The water winds back to low, green hills and a pink stone building with white trim along the right edge of the painting. A church with ivory-white walls and a slate-blue roof is situated slightly farther back, and it continues to be visible through the windows. The narrow strip of white sky in the top right corner of the painting is lined along the top edge with aquamarine blue.