Miracle of the Tomb of St Proculus

This panel once formed part of a predella made up of seven scenes from the life of Saint Proculus for an altarpiece, in the titular church in Florence, which belonged to the Benedictines of Badia. The altarpiece was dismembered probably in 1622. Six predella panels survive and are dispersed in various collections.

Whereas the other scenes from the predella represent episodes from the saint’s life, the present work records a posthumous episode: reportedly forty days after his death, a child placed under St Proculus’s tomb was restored to life. Pacino depicts the moments before and after the child’s resurrection - we see him pictured both beneath the tomb and in front of it, alongside the figures united in supplication and gratitude.