Four Paintings

'The Golden Legend', 'Meditations on the Life of Christ', and 'The Craftsman Handbook' were texts that, in addition to the Bible, were widely read in fourteenth century Italy.

Described as one of the most famous and widely read books in the Middle Ages, the Golden Legend is a compilation of the legends of the saints, together with a treatise on the liturgical year of the Church. It was written between 1255 and 1266 by Jacobus de Voragine, a Dominican who became the Archbishop of Genoa and became highly popular. A French translation was made in the 14th century, and it was translated into English as the Golden Legend in 1450.

Jacobus was a moralist and his book was designed to encourage the faithful to lead a life of virtue, using the saints as exemplars, with their fortitude and endurance of sufferings. Saints included in the book were those considered worthy of veneration by the Church at the time when Jacobus was writing. The lives are a compendium of stories from other writings about saints, the Apocryphal Gospels, local legends, popular beliefs and folk tales. Voragine was not attempting historical accuracy, but neither did he intentionally produce fictional accounts of the saints lives. It was above all a study of God's dealings with mankind through his agents, the saints.