The thread connecting many of the works in the Basilica dell’Osservanza is the devotion to Saint Bernardino and the Franciscan saints. The painting by Pietro di Giovanni d'Ambrogio in the third chapel on the right with the great Sienese saint in the centre is particularly significant as it was made in 1444, the year of his death. The image, one of the very first paintings of St Bernardino, can be considered to be his “portrait” made by the painter on the basis of personal acquaintance and memory, thus becoming the archetype of all following representations. The emaciated figure, clothed in a modest habit secured at the waist, his face haggard from fasting and his mouth without any teeth, will be the distinctive features of his iconography, in addition to the Name of Jesus on the background of a blazing sun. While Renaissance Humanism placed man at the centre of creation,  Bernardino reaffirmed the absolute supremacy of Christ and the subordination of all things to Him and in view of Him. In this sense, the inscription in the book he is holding, taken from the letter of Saint  Paul to the Colossians,  is emblematic: “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth” (Que sursum sunt sapite, non que super terram). The reputation of holiness, which was already widespread while Bernardino was still alive, and the extraordinary veneration of his . . .