Pacino di Bonaguida, Altarpiece with St Nicholas, St John the Evangelist and St Proculus

Pacino di Bonaguida was an Italian painter and illuminator who spent his entire career in Florence and was active from 1302 to 1340. In addition to altarpieces, he painted miniatures and decorations for illuminated manuscripts.

Pacino is now considered the inventor of miniaturism, a style distinguished by a clear organisation of the painting surface into multiple small-scale scenes. He worked in an archaic style related to the traditions of the late thirteenth century with the additional influence of Giotto’s early works.

Altarpiece with St Nicholas, St John the Evangelist and St Proculus was originally painted in the 1310s for the Church of San Procolo in Florence. After the church was deconsecrated in 1778, the work found its way into the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence.