Description
Pietro Lorenzetti painted this central predella panel of the Carmine Altarpiece in 1329 for the Carmelite church in Siena. It depicts Albert, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, giving a rule of life to the first hermits of Mount Carmel. Tradition identified the recipient as Saint Brocard, although the historical text names only Brother B. The ceremony fills an unusually horizontal composition, bringing together a procession of horsemen, religious figures and architecture evoking the Holy Land.
The panel, preserved in Siena’s Pinacoteca Nazionale, is remarkable for its numerous characters, moving horses and landscape joining a fortified town with a religious complex. By placing the episode at the centre of the predella, Lorenzetti emphasized the importance of the Rule to Carmelite identity. The narrative combines institutional memory with close attention to human details, distinctive qualities of the Sienese painter.






