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Virgin and Child, with Saints Mary Magdalene, James Major, Stephen, and a Bishop Saint

1346?
Allegretto di Nuzio, also called Allegretto Nuzi (Italian (active Fabriano and Florence), first documented 1345, died 1373)
Mary Magdalene holds a jar that contained the perfume she used to bathe Christ's feet. James the Great holds a staff and scallop shell like those carried by pilgrims to his burial site in Spain. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, holds a palm frond, the symbol of martyrdom. Several stones rest on his head, a reminder that he was executed by stoning. The last saint on the right bears no clear attribute other than a bishop's robes. In the late 1800s, when the altarpiece received a new frame, the bishop was identified as Nicholas of Bari, but he is more likely Zenobius, an early bishop of Florence.

Object Details

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