Christ between Saints Peter and Paul

A rare and beautiful early Renaissance painting has been saved for the nation by our colleagues at the Ferens Art Gallery. With the support of our own funders, the Heritage Lottery Fund, and the Art Fund, Christ between Saints Peter and Paul by Sienese artist Pietro Lorenzetti has been acquired by the Ferens Endowment Fund for display in the Gallery.

As part of the City Council's Heritage section, we at the History Centre can bask in some of the reflected glow of our colleagues’ success!

Pietro Lorenzetti (active 1306(?); died probably 1348)

Christ between Saints Peter and Paul, c.1320Tempera on panel, 32.2 x 70.4 cm© Ferens Art Gallery, Hull Museums.  Photo: The National Gallery, London

Lorenzetti painted the altarpiece of which the Hull picture is a surviving part in 1320. Oddly enough 1320 is the date from which the routine records of local administration here in Hull actually survive. The Chamberlains’ Rolls – the annual accounts of the town’s two financial officers, the chamberlains – begin in this year (reference C BRF/2). The first recorded chamberlains were the merchant brothers William and Richard de la Pole, beginning a family trajectory which nearly led to the throne of England.

Visitors to the Ferens will be able to see the Lorenzetti masterpiece next year, after it has been restored at the National Gallery. But when you do go, remember that at the time Pietro was grinding his pigments in Siena, here in Hull records were being created which nearly seven hundred years later the History Centre preserves and makes available for posterity. 

Martin Taylor
City Archivist