A monogram instead of an instrument

Bernardino of Siena is named by three letters. His attribute is a tablet or disc carrying the monogram IHS inside rays, held up in front of him, and it is one of the very few signs in this system that is a piece of writing rather than a thing. Two more attach to him: three bishops' mitres set on the ground, standing for offices the tradition says he refused, and a face so consistently drawn as gaunt and toothless that it works as an identifier by itself.

What the record holds

The entry is dated 1531 and gives Private Collection as its location. No dimensions are recorded. It is filed under male portraiture and Religion, with High Renaissance as the style and Italian as the nationality; the measured colour family is neutral.

The spelling the record keeps

The title here reads Bernadine, and it is the only title in this catalogue that carries the name in any form. Spelling drift of that kind is ordinary in a collection assembled from many sources, and it matters for the same reason attributes do: a name that arrives in three variants is a name that cannot be searched reliably, which is precisely the problem a painted object solves. A tablet with three letters on it is legible whether or not anyone can spell the man holding it.