I santi Cosma e Damiano salvati

This little panel was part of the base of Fra Angelico's great altarpiece for the convent of San Marco in Florence, painted around 1443. The whole project was paid for by Cosimo de' Medici, who was rebuilding the convent as an act of very public piety, and it is no accident that the twin saints starring in these scenes are Cosmas and Damian. Cosmas was Cosimo's own name-saint. The pair were early physicians said to heal for free, fitting patrons for a banker minding his reputation. Here they have been chained and thrown into the sea to drown, but an angel has loosed the chains, and they drift back to shore untouched. The altarpiece was later broken up, which is how this small scene ended up in Munich, far from the main panel still in Florence.