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Saint Anthony of Padua

Szymon Czechowicz

Basic information

ID: Ж-3400
Author: Szymon Czechowicz
Name: Saint Anthony of Padua
Date of creation: c.1767
Country: Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Technique: oil painting
Material: canvas oil
Dimensions: 61 x 37 cm (height x width)

Additionally

Type: painting
Genre: religious
Plot: Life of Saint Anthony of Padua
Provenance: Lviv Historical Museum
Exposition: Zhovkva Castle

Information about author

Author: Szymon Czechowicz
Author in the original: Szymon Czechowicz
Artist's lifetime: 1689–1775
Country: Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Biography: Szymon Czechowicz was born in an impoverished noble family in Krakow on July 28, 1689. He became an orphan at a young age. Thanks to the support of his patron and philanthropist Franciszek Ossolinski, the artist went to Rome, where he studied painting at the Academy of St. Luke under the guidance of Carlo Maratti. The first professional works of the artist were copies after famous painters, such as Rubens, Van Dyck and others; the artist drew upon their iconographic compositions. In 1765, at the invitation of Waclaw Rzewuski, he arrived at Pidhirtsi Castle in the Lviv region; by 1767, Czechowicz created 107 works that became part of the castle interior and a kind of the first museum of the artist. During the last period of his life, Szymon Czechowicz worked in Lithuania and Warsaw, where he opened his own art studio. The painter died on July 21, 1775. He was considered to be one of the best artists of the Baroque era in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Among the master's creative legacy, there are portraits and monumental paintings on sacred themes.

Object description

This is a multi-figure composition, in the centre of which there is a full-length image of St. Anthony; he is dressed in a monk's robe of dark colour. With his right hand, he holds a child, Christ. In the left hand of Christ, there is a dark sphere, symbolising the Earth. The face of the saint man as well as the top of his head are clean-shaven. The figure is slightly tilted to the left of the viewer. In the lower right corner, there is a figure of a sitting woman with a child sleeping in her arms. In the left corner, there is a figure of a bearded man kneeling. The man is depicted wearing a leather loincloth.

Portrayed person