Triumph of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Lipo Memmi)

Triumph of St Thomas Aquinas
Artist	Lippo Memmi
Year	1323
Location	Santa Caterina, Pisa

The Triumph of St Thomas Aquinas is a painting by the Italian medieval artist

The painting is a complex arrangement exalting the role of Thomas Aquinas as a scholar of religious knowledge, his placement among the Four Evangelists and philosophers. In the center of the panel, the largest figure is the seated tonsured monk St Thomas Aquinas, below a Christ inside a mandorla. Linear rays tie his work to the Four Evangelists and Moses and St Paul above the gilded circle. Flanking him are Aristotle and Plato.

A guide from 1867, while erroneously attributing the painting to

Below the feet of Aquinas is a dejected Averroes, horizontal and looks away with book inverted. The guide provides a long elaboration of the lower figures, but careful examination fails to identify many of the attributes described. The figures likely represent monks and nuns of the Catholic orders, inspired by the words of Aquinas.

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