A Miracle of Saint Donato of Arezzo, c.1479-85 (tempera on panel)

Previously attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, Toward the end of the fifteenth century, Lorenzo di Credi began his career in Florence, which had become the leading center of painting in Italy. Among those working with him in the workshop of the Florentine artist Verrocchio was Leonardo da Vinci, to whom is attributed an Annunciation (now at the Louvre, Paris) similar in size to Lorenzo's painting. These panels once formed part of a predella, or lower portion of an altarpiece, made for the cathedral of Pistoia in central Italy. The subject of the present panel is Saint Donato, who proved the innocence of a tax collector falsely accused of theft. The saint is shown assisting the man in locating the money that his deceased wife had hidden for safekeeping. Saint Donato appears also in the main panel of the Pistoia altarpiece, which was commissioned in memory of Bishop Donato de'Medici.