Template:POTD/2020-09-08
Peter Martyr Vermigli (8 September 1499 – 12 November 1562) was an Italian theologian. Born in Florence, he entered a Catholic religious order, but through study he came to accept Protestant beliefs about salvation and the Eucharist, and, to satisfy his conscience and avoid persecution by the Roman Inquisition, he fled Italy for Protestant northern Europe. The Latin inscription in this 1560 oil-on-canvas portrait of Vermigli by Hans Asper translates to: "Florence brought him forth, now he wanders as a foreigner, that he might forever be a citizen among those in heaven. This is his likeness, but a painting cannot reveal his heart, for integrity and piety cannot be represented by art." The painting is now in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery in London.Painting credit: Hans Asper