This panel belongs to a series of four paintings that show the life of Florence's patron Saint, Zenobius. The first two panels in the series are in the National Gallery's collection. The first,Four Scenes from the Early Life of Saint Zenobius shows the saint's conversion, baptism and ordination as Bishop of Florence. This panel is a continuation of his life story, which had been published by a priest called Clemente Mazza 20 years earlier. It shows three of the saint's miracles, set in Florence.

The miracle on the left shows Saint Zenobius curing two young men who have been cursed by their mother for beating her. The curse made them bite themselves and is represented by two demon-like creatures or devils that emerge from their mouths as the saint makes the sign of the Cross over them. Their mother, dressed in green, is shown beside them, her arms covering her face in horror. Botticelli has used gesture to express the drama of the event; even the demons raise their arms in distress. According to Mazza, the woman had brought the boys to the church of San Salvator to pray for their healing. Saint Zenobius had prayed for a long time before a Crucifix, show here within the single arcade that Botticelli has used to stand in for the church.

The central scene is set before a large brick palace, its door and windows bordered with the grey stone, called pietra serena, used in much fifteenth-century Florentine architecture. The scene is the first of several in the series that show the saint reviving a person from death. Here, a woman holds her dead son on her lap, wailing dramatically; the boy had been in Zenobius's care while she was in Rome. The saint restores him to life, as young men in clerical robes -- who appeared in the first panel of the series -- and several other distressed onlookers run to the scene. The robes of the man in blue swirl behind him -- a visual shorthand conveying his speed.

Mazza's biography described Zenobius meeting the French woman and her dead son as he walked in procession from the the church of San Pier Maggiore into the square. Botticelli has faithfully set this scene in the square, the Piazza di San Pier Maggiore: the deep arch with a view into a square beyond is probably the Volta di San Pietro (the archway of Saint Peter) which still exists in modern-day Florence. The church of San Pier Maggiore was, according to legend, founded by Zenobius in the fifth century and it remained, in the fifteenth-century, one of the oldest and most respected churches in Florence. The church itself is indicated by the grey stone doorway at right angles to the archway. We can imagine the saint walking from that door, down the steps and into the square where he encountered the grieving mother.

The final scene takes place on the steps in front of the church in the corner of the square. According to Mazza, Zenobius came across a blind man who sat outside the church door every day begging. While Mazza does not name the church, Botticelli sets the event outside the church of San Pier Maggiore in order to include it in the same geographical space as the other miracles. We can tell the man is a beggar: he has a makeshift bag made of a piece of cloth tied around a stick, which lies on the ground beside him next to his small dog. Zenobius, surrounded again by young ordinands in white vestments, heals the man, placing his fingers over his eyes.

Style: High Renaissance