Saint Didacus of Alcala Miracle of the roses

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Niccolò Betti was an Italian Old Masters painter who was born in 1546. After training in Florence with Michele Tosini, Betti was called to help with the decoration of Francesco de' Medici's studiolo in the Palazzo Vecchio where his signed Sack of Corinth forms part of the series of the element of Fire. That work shows the unmistakable influence of both Giovan Battista Naldini and Francesco Morandini. After the completion of the studiolo, in 1576-78 Betti worked in Pisa in the restoration of the cathedral.

Saint Didacus is associated with a Miracle of the roses. He often took bread from the monastery's dining table to give to the poor. One day, leaving the convent with a cloak full of food, he was accused and challenged to open his cloak; miraculously, the loaves of bread had changed into roses.

The painting belongs to a series of artworks commissioned by the House of Medici to a notable group of twenty-two Toscan artists, between 1610-1611. Thirty-two paintings were sent to Spain as a gift for Queen Margarita, Cosimo II de’ Medici’s sister-in-law, and were intended for the Franciscan convent of the Descalzas Reales in Valladolid, which she had founded and sponsored. 

The first lot of paintings was sent from Livorno in June 1611, but the Queen died in October of that same year. By then, the canvases were described by Hernando de Espejo, royal valet de chambre, as “so rotten and broken, that all value was lost.” Through the years, the paintings were finally properly restored by Spanish artists (included Saint Didacus' scene)

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This original image is in the public domain, however, the file now offered is a manually restored version of this artwork, in a higher resolution. Manually restoration was necessary in order to improve quality, without covering the original image. Imperfections due to historical aging of the source may still be present.