Saints Anthony Abbot and Francis of Assisi

Artist: Andrea Sacchi (Italian, 1599 - 1661)

Original Dimensions: 24" x 30 3/4"

Location: National Gallery of Art, London

About Artwork: (Before 1627) "Holding a book that seems to thrust forward out of the picture plane is Saint Anthony Abbot, identified by the tau- (T-) shaped walking stick he used in later life. He also wears a black habit, which his followers, the Antonine monks, later adopted. Next to him, slightly set back, is Saint Francis of Assisi, with his dark brown friar’s habit and a bloody wound on his hand. This is one of the stigmata – the five wounds suffered by Christ on the Cross, which were miraculously visited on the saint. Sacchi has created a simple but effective contrast between the two meditative saints. They appear to share the same physical space, lit by a bright, raking light from the left, but they seem unaware of each other. Saint Anthony is immersed in his studies; Saint Francis’s hands are crossed in religious submission, and his gaze is turned heavenwards. A painting by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Sacchi’s contemporary, which depicts two saints and has a similar format and dimensions is also in the National Gallery’s collection." - (National Gallery of Art, London)