Head of a Tonsured, Beardless Saint

This is a fragment of a fresco of a full-length standing figure of a saint. It once formed part of a so-called ’street tabernacle‘ – an outdoor religious painting – on a house in the Canto de’ Carnesecchi in central Florence. The National Gallery holds two other fragments from the tabernacle including the head of another saint and a Virgin and Child enthroned. The saints would have framed the central image of the Virgin and Child.We can't identify the saint from his head alone. His tonsured hairstyle (where the central section is shaved) was a sign of devotion among members of religious orders. His dark robe suggests that he was either an Augustinian or a Benedictine, but without any more evidence it’s difficult to tell. He resembles images of Saint Nicholas of Tolentino, an Augustinian, shown clean-shaven with short hair.The golden disc of the saint’s halo, which is made of metal foil, sits lightly on top of, rather than behind, his head. This foreshortening was first tried by the Florentine painter Masaccio in his Santa Maria del Carmine altarpiece. By giving the sense of space around the figure’s head it creates an impression of three-dimensionality.When the fresco was removed from the wall, the background was left there. The blue background we now see is a later addition, from the nineteenth century. The right side of saint’s face was repainted although the overall shape of the face was not altered.