Incidents in the Life of Saint Benedict

This panel is one of three in the Collection which were probably part of the predella of an altarpiece of the Coronation of the Virgin, commissioned for the Camaldolese monastery of San Benedetto fuori della Porta Pinti, Florence. They illustrate the life of Saint Benedict (about 480 - 547) whose rule the Camaldolese monks followed, and to whom the monastery was dedicated.

'Incidents in the Life of Saint Benedict' shows Saint Benedict telling Maurus to save Placidus from drowning; Maurus does so by miraculously walking on the water and seizes Placidus by the hair. Saint Benedict visits his sister, Saint Scholastica. She prays he will remain all night and a rainstorm begins and so he cannot depart.