Saint Bernardino of Siena Between Two Angels
Saint Bernardino of Siena Between Two Angels is a large tempera-on-canvas painting from around 1460 by Andrea Mantegna with his assistants. It is housed in the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan. The work used to hang in the funerary chapel of Ludovico III Gonzaga in Mantua, in the church of San Francesco.
In the center, Saint Bernardino stands holding a gold plate with the IHS symbol, the name of Jesus, as he would display at the end of his sermons. He stands on a platform covered with a carpet. Two angels stand at his sides, and four cherubs sit or kneel above the arch.
The architrave above his head carries the words Huius lingua salus hominum, meaning "His word is the safety of men." The arch is decorated with garlands of flowers and fruit, a common Mantegna feature influenced by Francesco Squarcione in Padua. At the bottom, a cartouche shows the date 1460, though some scholars think 1468 or 1469.
Scholars disagree about who painted it: it may have been done by Mantegna and his assistants, or by the assistants alone. The painting was acquired by the Pinacoteca di Brera in 1811.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 10:14 (CET).