"Vision of St. Anthony of Padua " ( Spanish: La visión de San Antonio de Padua ) - a painting by the Spanish artist Bartolome Esteban Murillo , written in 1656 . The canvas is in the chapel of San Antonio Seville Cathedral in Seville . One of the main works of the middle-aged painter of his activity.
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| Bartolome Esteban Murillo | ||
| Vision of St. Anthony of Padua . 1656 | ||
| La visión de san antonio de padua | ||
| Canvas, oil. 560 × 330 cm | ||
| Seville Cathedral , Seville | ||
Content
History
In 1656, the canon of Seville Cathedral ordered Murillo a large canvas to decorate the altar of the chapel of San Antonio, built by architect Bernardo Simon de Pineda and used for the baptismal ceremony. Murillo, following the tradition of Francisco Herrera Sr. , painted a large picture for this small chapel, which allowed to strengthen its effect.
During the French occupation of Seville, as part of the Napoleonic invasion of Spain, the treasury of the Cathedral of Seville was plundered by the troops of the French Marshal Nicolas Jean de Dieu Sult . Among the works confiscated by the military were the Immaculate Conception and the Nativity of the Virgin by Murillo, whom Soult particularly valued. In principle, the French wanted to take away the “Vision of St. Anthony of Padua”, but the city council proposed to exchange it for the “ Nativity of the Virgin ”. As a result, the painting “Vision of St. Anthony of Padua” remained in the chapel of San Antonio [1] .
In 1874, a thief carved a saint from a painting and offered it to an antique dealer in New York . Thanks to the antique dealer, the Spanish embassy managed to buy back the stolen goods. The figure of the saint was returned to the cathedral, and in 1875 the painting was restored by the Spanish artist and restorer Salvador Martinez Cubels .
Description
Saint Anthony is shown in the large hall reading in front of a simple table decorated with lilies that symbolize purity when the baby Jesus descends to him, surrounded by a host of angels that form a halo around him. The saint interrupts reading and kneels before a breathtaking vision, illuminated by the radiance emanating from the figure of the baby. In the back of the hall, an ajar door allows you to contemplate the monumental architecture with a large column that forms a portico at the entrance to the building where the saint is located. Thus, two light sources fill the lower part of the composition, creating an extraordinary atmosphere reminiscent of the style of Velazquez , teacher Murillo. The composition is structured along the diagonal connecting the two zones.
Notes
- ↑ La Visión de San Antonio . Catedral de Sevilla: Capilla de San Antonio. Date of appeal March 15, 2019.
Literature
- Nina A. Mallory El Greco to Murillo: Spanish Painting in the Golden Age, 1556-1700 , Harper & Row, 1990. ISBN 9780064355315
- Albert Frederick Calvert, Murillo C. Scribner's sons, 1908. OCLC 66738190
Links
- La Visión de San Antonio . Catedral de Sevilla: Capilla de San Antonio. Date of appeal March 15, 2019.
- ArteHistoria.com. La visión de San Antonio (Spanish)