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Allegory of the city of Prato with Saints Stephen and John the Baptist and benefactors Michele and Francesco di Marco Datini

Antonio di Miniato, Pietro di Miniato 1415-1420

On the ground floor, in the spaces that formerly housed the Monte di Pietà, is the beautiful fresco representing the Allegory of the City of Prato with Saints Stephen and John the Baptist and the benefactors Michele and Francesco di Marco Datini. Dated back to around 1415, the work shows saints and benefactors commending the city of Prato to Christ, and is attributed to the brothers Pietro and Antonio di Miniato, very active painters in the city who also received numerous commissions from Francesco Datini.

Technical information

Author: Antonio di Miniato, Pietro di Miniato
Title: Allegory of the city of Prato with Saints Stephen and John the Baptist and benefactors Michele and Francesco di Marco Datini
Date: 1415-1420
Material and technique: Detached fresco
Size: mnr
Location: Palazzo Pretorio Museum
Ground Floor

The fresco includes a concise view of the walled city, in which the cathedral and Palazzo Pretorio, among other buildings depicted, can be recognised. Francesco Datini's palace can also be clearly identified through the presence of his seal (an “F” encrusted and surmounted by a cross) and the green and white geometric decoration framing the windows, executed in the summer of 1411 along with other painting work on the exterior of the palace.
Worthy of note is the figure of Francesco di Marco Datini, who died in 1410 and is depicted here according to his official iconography: dressed in a long cloth suit, the lucco, distinguished by the colour red, the basic colour together with black for woollen cloth, symbolising nobility of heart and a high social position.
Pietro di Miniato's polyptych with the Coronation of the Virgin and Saints is exhibited on the first floor in the hall dedicated to painting from the Late Gothic to the Renaissance. In the same hall, the fresco of the Annunciation can be attributed to Antonio's circle.