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Secondary sourcePaintingc. 1325-1375

Saint Thomas Aquinas Panel Painting by Jacopo del Casentino

Jacopo del Casentino · c. 1325-1375

A gold-ground Gothic panel painting of Thomas Aquinas holding an open book, made within decades of his death.

An early panel painting showing Aquinas as a haloed scholar-saint holding an open book, made decades after his death.

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Gold-ground Gothic panel painting in a pointed-arch frame showing a tonsured man in a dark black cloak and white collar, holding an open book with Latin text and gold rays behind it. A halo surrounds his head.
Jacopo del Casentino, Saint Thomas Aquinas, c. 1325-1375.

About this source

What it is

This is a gold-ground Gothic panel painting by Jacopo del Casentino, made sometime between about 1325 and 1375. It shows a tonsured, haloed man in a dark cloak holding an open book with Latin text, set inside a pointed-arch frame.

Why it matters

Painted within roughly fifty years of Aquinas's death, this work shows how quickly artists began depicting him as a saint and scholar. The book he holds points to his fame as a writer and teacher, while the gold background and halo mark him as a holy figure worthy of devotion.

Look closer

  • Why might the artist choose to show Aquinas holding a book rather than any other object?
  • What does the gold background tell you about how religious paintings of this time worked?
  • How does this image compare to how you imagine a real medieval friar might have looked?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Saint Thomas Aquinas on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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