Neapolitan school; XVII century.
"St. Dominic with Child".
Oil on canvas.
Size: 81 x 63 cm.
The painter presents us here St. Anthony of Padua, dressed in the Franciscan habit, with a long bust, behind the figure of the Child Jesus, naked except for a cloak that the saint holds next to the Child, which alludes to purity.St. Anthony of Padua is, after St. Francis of Assisi, the most popular of the Franciscan saints. He was born in Lisbon in 1195 and only spent the last two years of his life in Padua. After studying at the convent of Santa Cruz in Coimbra, in 1220 he entered the Order of Friars Minor, where he changed his first name, Fernando, to Antonio. After teaching theology in Bologna, he traveled through southern and central France, preaching in Arles, Montpellier, Puy, Limoges and Bourges. In 1227 he participated in the general chapter of Assisi. In 1230 he was in charge of the transfer of the remains of St. Francis. He preached in Padua and died there at the age of 36 in 1231. He was canonized only a year after his death, in 1232.
Given the importance given to religious images in the Hispanic world, during the 17th and 18th centuries ambitious pictorial series and extensive iconographic programs were created for churches and convents, as well as printed prints, medals and reliquaries for private devotion. As a whole, regardless of their size or support, these images fulfilled the objective of sacralizing everyday life beyond the altars. The distinctive sign of the Neapolitan school has always been its strong naturalistic character, its warm color, with reddish and chestnut dominants and the cultivation, together with the altar painting, of a type of realistic painting its best exponent. In Naples the influence of José Ribera was equal or superior to that of Caravaggio. His naturalism, more sensual and material, more vigorous and vehement, less intellectual than that of the latter, becomes permeable over time to Venetian and Flemish influences, enriching color and lightening of technique, especially from 1635. His most faithful disciples are the Fracanzano family, Cesare (1600-51) and Francesco (1612-56), Bartolomeo Bassante (1614-56), Paolo Domenico Finoglia (1590-1645) and some others who later cultivated special genres such as Aniello Falcone (1607-56), Salvatore Rosa (1615-73) or Luca Giordano. However, from the Baroque period onwards, the colors were softened and nuanced without opting for tenebrism, but preserving a great theatricality in the representations.