''Miracle of the Snow'' is a painting in

tempera Tempera (), also known as egg tempera, is a permanent, fast-drying painting medium consisting of colored pigments mixed with a water-soluble binder medium, usually glutinous material such as egg yolk. Tempera also refers to the paintings done ...

on panel by

Pietro Perugino Pietro Perugino (, ; – 1523), born Pietro Vannucci, was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Umbrian school, who developed some of the qualities that found classic expression in the High Renaissance. Raphael was his most famous pupil. Ea ...

, dating to around 1472–1474 and now in the collection of

Polesden Lacey Polesden Lacey is an Edwardian house and estate, located on the North Downs at Great Bookham, near Dorking, Surrey, England. It is owned and run by the National Trust and is one of the Trust's most popular properties. This Regency house was exp ...

. It shows the miraculous fall of snow which marked the spot for the foundation of

Santa Maria Maggiore The Basilica of Saint Mary Major ( it, Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, ; la, Basilica Sanctae Mariae Maioris), or church of Santa Maria Maggiore, is a Major papal basilica as well as one of the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome and the larges ...

in Rome in 352. The painting belongs to Perugino's early period and the important commissions he gained during the short time he was active in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

. Both it and the '' Nativity of the Virgin'' are usually identified as one of two surviving parts of the same

predella In art a predella (plural predelle) is the lowest part of an altarpiece, sometimes forming a platform or step, and the painting or sculpture along it, at the bottom of an altarpiece, sometimes with a single much larger main scene above, but oft ...

, either from a lost altarpiece of the Virgin Mary or from the '' Pala di San Martino a Strada'' by

Andrea del Verrocchio Andrea del Verrocchio (, , ; – 1488), born Andrea di Michele di Francesco de' Cioni, was a sculptor, Italian painter and goldsmith who was a master of an important workshop in Florence. He apparently became known as ''Verrocchio'' after the su ...

's studio. Both predella panels were in the Pucci chapel in Santissima Annunziata in Florence by 1786, when they were bought by John Campbell. They were sold to different owners in London in 1804, with the ''Miracle'' entering the Polesden Lacey collection.

References

Bibliography

* Vittoria Garibaldi, ''Perugino'', in ''Pittori del Rinascimento'', Scala, Florence, 2004 * Pierluigi De Vecchi, Elda Cerchiari, ''I tempi dell'arte'', volume 2,

Bompiani Bompiani is an Italian publishing house based in Milan. It was founded in 1929 by Valentino Bompiani. In 1990, Bompiani became part of the RCS MediaGroup. It was sold in 2015 to the Giunti Group. It is widely regarded as one of the leading literar ...

, Milan, 1999 * Stefano Zuffi, ''Il Quattrocento'', Electa, Milan, 2004 {{Subject bar , portal1= Visual arts , portal2= Catholicism , portal3= Italy Paintings by Pietro Perugino 1470s paintings Collections of the National Trust Snow in culture