Return of the Saint and Burning of the Changeling c. 1390

Martino di Bartolomeo made this tempera on wood panel, "Return of the Saint and Burning of the Changeling," in the late fourteenth or early fifteenth century in Italy. The painting depicts two simultaneous events: the return of a saint, likely a local one, and the burning of a changeling. In this period, the concept of the changeling spoke to profound anxieties around infant mortality and unexplained disabilities. The belief was that fairies would swap a healthy human child with a sickly or deformed one. This horrific act was, in some ways, a way to process what could not be understood through the paradigms of the time. The visual juxtaposition of the saint’s return and the burning reflects a society grappling with faith, fear, and the unknown. The painting stands as a stark reminder of how communities historically dealt with difference, and how such beliefs can lead to violence against the most vulnerable. It's a chilling scene, one that asks us to confront the darker aspects of our shared past.