Der heilige Stephanus

This panel of Saint Stephen was probably never meant to stand alone. Giotto painted it late in his life, around 1320, as one part of an altarpiece for the church of Santa Croce in Florence, the great Franciscan basilica he had already helped decorate. The altarpiece was later taken apart and its panels sold off separately. The Madonna from its centre is now in Washington, two other saints hang outside Paris, and Stephen ended up here in Florence, a few streets from where he began. Look at the top of his head: three small stones rest in his hair and on his shoulders, the quiet sign that he was stoned to death, the first Christian martyr.