Canvas, 300x200 cm + frame 12 cm, Inv. n. 152

This work was completed for the high altar of the Church of the Convent of St. Clare in Faenza around 1619, or during the period when Tiarini was engaged in the Basilica della Madonna della Ghiara in Reggio Emilia.
There are depictions of St. Martin and three Franciscan saints, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Francis, and St. Clare paying homage to the Virgin and Child. The child's glance is attracted by St. Martin's gesture, who is depicted in the act of dividing his cape with a pauper, an allusion to the charitable mission of the convent, but also to the zone of St. Martin in Faenza, where the convent originally stood. St. Clare is portrayed, in a privileged position, at the foot of the throne, holding the ostensory with which she saved the convent from the Saracens.
The sketch for the altar piece is housed at the National Gallery of Ottawa in Canada.
Characteristics typical of Tiarini are the narrative of the scene and the reference to Carracci's motifs.
Alessandro Tiarini was an artist from Bologna, a pupil of Prospero Fontana, a collaborator of Benedetto Cesi, and active in Florence from 1599 to 1606, where he also worked in the workshop of Passignano. When he returned to Bologna, he was influenced by the works of Ludovico Carracci.