Four Saints and Blesseds: James of the Marches

The odd one out here is not a saint at all, or not yet. James of the Marches was a real man within living memory when this was painted: born at Monteprandone in the Marche, a Franciscan friar who died in 1476, only about a decade earlier. He spent his life preaching across Italy and beyond the Alps, arguing fiercely against lending money at interest and helping found the monti di pieta, charity banks that lent to the poor. In 1485 he was honoured locally as a blessed but had not been made a saint, which is why the panels are titled for saints and blesseds together. He wears the plain grey habit of his order.