Description
The Dream of Sobac is one of the predella compartments of the great altarpiece that Pietro Lorenzetti made in 1329 for the Carmelite church of San Niccolò del Carmine in Siena. The small panel, now in the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Siena, shows Sobac asleep inside a domestic room while an angel, accompanied by a scroll, announces the extraordinary destiny of his son Elijah. The scene belongs to Carmelite stories connected with the legendary origins of the prophet.
Despite its reduced format, the painting stands out for the precision with which it organises space. Lorenzetti shows at once the exterior architecture of the building and the interior where the figure sleeps, creating an intimate and narrative scene. This combination of everyday detail, spatial invention and devotional meaning makes the work essential for understanding the narrative richness of the predella of the Carmine altarpiece.
