Italian
16th century
Oil and gold leaf on panel
Height 11" (27.9 cm) x Width 8 3/4" (22.2 cm)
Provenance: William Randolph Hearst
Saint Anthony of Padua (1195–1231) is depicted here in the dark Franciscan habit, his gaze directed upward toward the Christ Child who stands before him on an open book, a vision associated with the most celebrated miracle of his iconographic tradition. The gold leaf ground, punched and burnished in the manner of Italian medieval and early Renaissance devotional painting, establishes the sacred register of the image and situates the panel within a well-defined tradition of small-format private devotion that flourished in Italy from the 13th through the 16th centuries. The composition is intimate in scale and clearly intended for personal or domestic use rather than public display.
The panel is painted in oil with gold leaf, a combination that bridges the earlier tempera and gold tradition with the more painterly approach of the 16th century, and the figure of the saint is rendered with careful attention to the volume of the drapery and the meditative quality of his expression. The Christ Child is depicted as a young boy in motion, the dynamism of his pose contrasting with the stillness of the saint below. The work comes from the collection of William Randolph Hearst, whose acquisitions of European devotional painting and decorative art over several decades formed one of the most extensive private collections assembled in America.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
Italian
16th century
Oil and gold leaf on panel
Height 11" (27.9 cm) x Width 8 3/4" (22.2 cm)
Provenance: William Randolph Hearst
Saint Anthony of Padua (1195–1231) is depicted here in the dark Franciscan habit, his gaze directed upward toward the Christ Child who stands before him on an open book, a vision associated with the most celebrated miracle of his iconographic tradition. The gold leaf ground, punched and burnished in the manner of Italian medieval and early Renaissance devotional painting, establishes the sacred register of the image and situates the panel within a well-defined tradition of small-format private devotion that flourished in Italy from the 13th through the 16th centuries. The composition is intimate in scale and clearly intended for personal or domestic use rather than public display.
The panel is painted in oil with gold leaf, a combination that bridges the earlier tempera and gold tradition with the more painterly approach of the 16th century, and the figure of the saint is rendered with careful attention to the volume of the drapery and the meditative quality of his expression. The Christ Child is depicted as a young boy in motion, the dynamism of his pose contrasting with the stillness of the saint below. The work comes from the collection of William Randolph Hearst, whose acquisitions of European devotional painting and decorative art over several decades formed one of the most extensive private collections assembled in America.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
