Augustinian Saint

In October 1454 Piero della Francesca signed a contract in his home town of Borgo Sansepolcro to paint a large altarpiece for the high altar of the Augustinian church. His final payment is dated November 1469. This panel, only about 40 centimetres tall, comes from the frame of that altarpiece, where small saints like this one stood on gold ground and caught the candlelight around the altar. Around 1555 the altarpiece was taken apart. Who this friar is remains an open question. His black habit and tonsure mark him as an Augustinian. One suggestion is Saint Leonard, to whom the oratory at the town's founding was dedicated. Another is the Blessed Angelo Scarpetti, a local friar buried in that same church. The Frick Collection bought the panel in 1950, together with a matching one of an Augustinian nun. In 2024, while the Frick was closed for renovation, all eight surviving pieces of the altarpiece were shown together at the Museo Poldi Pezzoli in Milan.