Saint Bonaventure Saint Anthony 1670
This painting depicts two winged Franciscans, Saint Bonaventure and Saint Anthony of Padua, playing musical instruments (hand vihuela and a arch vihuela, respectively). Saint Bonaventure, a Franciscan Cardinal, is recognizable by the red cowl worn over his habit while Saint Anthony is identifiable by his attribute of a stalk of lilies. The painting is a fragment from a large and complex allegorical composition that depicts the defeat of heresy by Virgin of the Immaculate Conception aided by Saint Francis and Franciscan saints. The composition originated around 1670 in Cuzco in the circle of Basilio de Santa Cruz Pumacallao and is preserved in a work painted for the convent of Saint Francis in Santiago de Chile.
The Order of St Francis settled there soon after the first colonizers in 1554 and were entrusted with the running of a little chapel sheltering the Virgen del Socorro, a precious carved figure gifted by the city’s founder. After the original structure succumbed to an earthquake, the construction of the present-day church took place between 1586 and 1618. The east wing of the convent contains mainly altar pieces and religious art. On the west wing. the rooms contain an impressive selection of silverware, among which are some splendid silver chalices.
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