Saint Anthony by Murillo 1656
This work is one of the largest that Murillo created, resulting in a large painting for a small chapel: Baptismal Chapel of the Cathedral of Santa María de la Sede of Seville. Saint Anthony of Padua is (after Saint Francis of Assisi) the most popular Franciscan saint. The painting represents the moment in which the Child Jesus appears to him in his room. The scene is divided into two very different areas: the earthly one where the saint appears and the heavenly one in which the Child is surrounded by angels.
Saint Anthony wears the brown habit of the order and appears kneeling, with his arms open and directing his gaze at the Child. On the left side you can see a table with a vase of lilies as a symbol of purity and a series of books. As the painter usually does in many of his works, he opens the scene to a background of classicist style architecture.
In 1656 the chapter of the Cathedral of Seville would commission Murillo to commission this work.
It is a vision, a theme so pleasing to the baroque world, that unites the earthly and supernatural worlds in a single image, proposing to the viewer the future glories that would come to him due to his strict compliance with the commandments and sacraments of the Catholic Church.
The saint is reading at the austere table in a large room, when suddenly he receives a visit from the Child Jesus surrounded by angels—symbols of purity. Saint Anthony interrupts his tasks and kneels before the vision. The light emanating from the sacred figure illuminates the entire scene. The door at the back of the room allows you to appreciate the architectural details, especially the column.
Rubens' diagonals and angelic sweeps appear, an increasingly idealized vision that connects with Bolognese classicism or an increasingly loose brushstroke that, begun years before, is reaffirmed with his knowledge of Van Dyck's painting.
In this way he achieves a completely baroque image dominated by an increasingly nuanced color (which tends towards the pastel colors that will characterize his latest work) that is deployed through an increasingly undone brushstroke, achieving his classic vaporous spaces, where the profiles They diffuse into the environment. A very well-structured play of light unifies the composition and uses a wide range of colors to give cohesion to the composition. Without a doubt, Murillo achieved his own style, more naturalistic and with less chiaroscuro—inheritance from Francisco de Zurbarán and his generation. The painting was restored in 1831.
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