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| Willem van Herp the Elder, Saint Anthony Distributing Bread Flemish, c.1662 London, National Gallery |
Happy Feast of Saint Anthony! After completing the article of yesterday regarding the Miracle of the Mule, I became intrigued to find out when it was that the popular image of Saint Anthony, the one with the Infant Jesus, began to drive out the other possible images of the saint.*
From a somewhat cursory review of the iconography of Saint Anthony, it appears that up till about 1600 his iconography was quite varied.
From a somewhat cursory review of the iconography of Saint Anthony, it appears that up till about 1600 his iconography was quite varied.
Early Images
The earliest images showed a very serious Saint Anthony, sometimes in company with Saint Francis, as would be appropriate for an early Franciscan saint. However, there is no agreed upon "portrait". Different artists saw him at different ages, with different hair styles, sometimes bearded, sometimes clean shaven, etc. This is not surprising for a period in which the idea of portrait resemblance, such as we know today, was impossible.
(Fascinating details about his life, which I was not aware of for many years, for example, that he was not from the town of Padua and that his name was not Anthony, can be found in my earlier article "The Saint Anthony I Never Knew".)
Sometimes he is accompanied by other Franciscan saints.
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| Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Anthony of Padua from Livre d'images de Madame Marie Belgian (Hainaut), 1285-1290 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Nouvelle acquisition francaise 16251, fol. 94v |
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| Simone Martini, Saint Anthony of Padua and Saint Francis of Assisi Italian, 1317 Assisi, Basilica of San Francesco |
Sometimes he is accompanied by other Franciscan saints.
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| Alvise Vivarini, Virgin and Child with Saints Louis of Toulouse, Anthony of Padua, Francis of Assisi and Bernardino of Siena Italian, 1480 Venice, Galleria dell'Accademia |
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| Moretto, Saint Bonaventure and Saint Anthony of Padua Italian, c. 1500-1550 Paris, Musée du Louvre |
Sometimes he is seen alone or with other non-Franciscan saints or with various donors.
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| Maso di Banco, Saint Anthony of Padua Italian, c. 1340 New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Tommaso del Mazza, Saints John the Baptist and Anthony of Padua with Donor Italian, c. 1386 Avignon, Musée du Petit Palais |
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Benozzo Gozzoli, Saint Anthony of Padua with Angels and Donors
Italian, 1450s
Rome, Santa Maria in Aracoeli |
Rather quickly he became a youngish, clean shaven man. Almost always he is shown carrying a book, an obvious reference to his acclaimed knowledge of the Bible and to his own writings. Sometimes he also carries a burning flame, probably symbolic of his preaching ministry. Lilies were added later.
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| Vincenzo Foppa, Saint Anthony of Padua Italian, c.1495-1500 Washington, National Gallery of Art |
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| Bernardo Zanale, Saint Anthony of Padua Italian, 1502-1507 Milan, Museo Poldi Pezzoli |
In the Sacra Conversazione
From the 15th century he also appears in the genre known as the Sacra Conversazione. In this kind of picture the Madonna and Child are shown in company with several saints. The 15th century also appears to be the period in which the lily first appears as an attribute in addition to the book. The lily is a traditional symbol of purity.
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| Giovanni Mazone, Nativity with Saints Francis and Anthony of Padua introducing Pope Sixtus IV and his nephew, Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere Known as the Della Rovere Triptych Italian, c. 1489 Avignon, Musée du Petit Palais This is not a Sacra Conversazione in the strictest sense, but I include it for the interest in the main characters. In the left wind, Saint Francis introduces Pope Sixtus IV while, in the right wing, Saint Anthony of Padua introduces the Pope's nephew, Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere. Giuliano della Rovere followed in his uncle's footsteps, becoming Pope Julius II in 1503. He was the great patron of the Roman High Renaissance, famously employing Michelangelo on his tomb and on the Sistine Chapel ceiling and Raphael in the Vatican Stanze. |
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Titian, Madonna and Child with Saint Anthony of Padua and Saint Roch Italian, c. 1508 Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado
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Life of Saint Anthony
Other depictions focus on events from Saint Anthony's life and the legends that surrounded him. Among them are images of his preaching activities.
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| Giovanni Antonio Requesta, Saint Anthony Preaching Italian, c. 1510-1511 Padua, Scuola del Santo, Sala Capitolare |
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| Arnould de Vuez, Saint Anthony Preaching French, c. 1700-1720 Lille, Musée des Beaux-Arts |
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| Anonymous, Saint Anthony Preaching Before Pope Gregory IX Peruvian, 18th Century Philadelphia, Museum of Art |
Sermon to the Fish
While artists did depict Anthony preaching to human audiences, more frequently they show the audience to be composed of fish. These pictures refer to a charming story about his decision to preach to the fish of the Adriatic when the people of the nearby town of Rimini refused to listen. According to the story, the fish came close to the shore, arranged themselves in orderly rows and stuck their heads out of the water to listen attentively.
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| Girolamo Tessari, Saint Anthony Preaching to the Fish Italian, c. 1335-1337 Camposampiero, Santuario del Noce |
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| Simon Bening, Saint Anthony Preaching to the Fish From the Da Costa Hours Flemish (Bruges), c. 1510-1520 New York, Pierpont Morgan Library MS M 399, fol. 308v |
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| Paolo Veronese, Saint Anthony Preaching to the Fish Italian, c. 1580 Rome, Galleria Borghese |
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| Attributed to Francisco de Herrera the Elder, Saint Anthony Preaching to the Fish Spanish, c. 1630 Detroit, Institute of Arts |
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| Juan Carreňo de Miranda, Saint Anthony Preaching to the Fish Spanish, 1646 Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado |
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| Gilles Hallet, Saint Anthony Preaching to the Fish Flemish, Second Half of the 17th Century Rome, Church of San Isidoro, Cappella di Sant'Antonio |
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| Arnold Böcklin, Saint Anthony Preaching to the Fish Swiss, 1892 Zürich, Kunsthaus Zürich |
Like the Miracle of the Mule, this story reveals that the association of the Franciscan spirit with the natural world has been recognized for centuries.
Miracles of Saint Anthony
Other miracles of Saint Anthony of Padua were also depicted from time to time.
Among them are:
The dramatic story of Saint Anthony's Miracle of Bilocation to assist his father, who was wrongly accused of murder. Not only did Anthony bilocate to Portugal, while remaining in Italy, but he also revived the dead man who testified that Anthony's father was not his murderer.
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| Willem van Herp the Elder, Bilocation of Saint Anthony of Padua Flemish, c. 1660-1670 Dijon, Musée national Magnin |
There are also other scenes of Anthony reviving the dead, including the miracle in which he brought a dead child back to life.
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| Donatello, Miracle of the Dead Child Italian, c. 1447-1450 Padua, Basilica de Sant'Antonio, Altar |
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| Piero della Francesca, Saint Anthony Raises a Dead Child From the Polyptych of Saint Anthony Italian, c. 1460 Perugia, Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria |
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| Antonio Lombardo, Miracle of the Dead Child Italian, c. 1500-1504 Padua, Basilica di Sant'Antonio |
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| Titian, Miracle of the Dead Child Italian, 1511 Padua, Scuola del Santo |
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| Andrea Sacchi, Saint Anthony Reviving a Dead Man Italian, c. 1635 Edinburgh, National Galleries of Scotland |
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| Francisco de Goya, Miracle of Saint Francis Spanish, 1798 Madrid, Church of San Antonio de la Florida |
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| Adeodato Malatesta, Miracle of Saint Anthony Italian, Second Half of 19th Century Sassuolo, Palazzo Ducale di Sassuolo |
Another famous miracle was the healing of a horrific self-inflicted injury, in which a young man cut off his own foot out of remorse following an argument with his mother. Saint Anthony's prayers and actions healed the terrible injury.
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| Donatello, Miracle of the Repentent Son Italian, c. 1447-1450 Padua, Basilica de Sant'Antonio |
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| Antonio Lombardo, Miracle of the Remorseful Son Italian, c. 1500-1504 Padua, Basilica di Sant'Antonio |
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| Titian, Healing of the Wrathful Son Italian, 1511 Padua, Scuola del Santo |
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| Sebastiano Ricci, Miracle of the Repentant Son Italian, c. 1725-1730 Paris, Musée du Louvre |
Saint Anthony in Eternity
And, finally, Saint Anthony has been depicted as a saint, doing what saints do in eternity. That is, they join the angels in offering praise to God and intercede through their prayers for those still in the living world.
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| Saint Anthony of Padua Serenaded by Angels from Heures de Louis de Savoie French (Savoy), c. 1445-1460 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Latin 9473, fol. 171v |
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| Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione, Immaculate Conception with Saints Francis of Assisi and Anthony of Padua Italian, c. 1649-1550 Minneapolis, Institute of Art |
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| Follower of Basilio Santa Cruz Pumacallao, Saint Bonaventure and Saint Anthony of Padua Peruvian, c. 1670-1690 New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Donato Creti, Glorification of Saint Anthony of Padua Italian, c. 1700-1725 Paris, Musée du Louvre |
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| Giovanni Battista Gaulli, Triumph of the Franciscan Order Italian, 1707 Rome, Church of Santi Apostoli |
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| Giovanni Battista Pittoni, Saints Presenting a Woman Donor to the Virgin and Child Italian, c. 1720s Cleveland, Museum of Art |
Saint Anthony with the Christ Child -- The Best Known Image
However, the most common depiction of Saint Anthony, the one which most people would recognize immediately falls into none of these modes. This is the subject of Saint Anthony of Padua with the Infant Jesus.
It is at the end of the fifteenth century when this iconography appears to begin. The image recalls the apparition of the Christ Child that may or may not be a legend. The event is claimed to have taken place in France (though there is also an Italian location that claims it). According to the story, a bright light was observed in St. Anthony’s room in a house where he was staying overnight. The householder went to investigate this unusual occurrence and saw Saint Anthony holding the Divine Child (from whom the light was emanating) in his arms. Consequently, the Christ Child began to appear in works of art almost as if it was one of the attributes of the saint, like the lilies or the book.
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| Workshop of Juan de Carrion, Saint Anthony of Padua from Hours of Infante Don Alfonso of Castille Spanish (Burgos), c. 1465-1480 New York, Pierpont Morgan Library MS M 854, fol. 196r |
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| Hans Memling, Saint Anthony of Padua Flemish, c. 1485-1490 Chicago, Art Institute |
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| Gerard David and Workshop, Saint Anthony of Padua From the Saint Anne Altarpiece Dutch, c. 1500-1520 Washington, National Gallery of Art |
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| Gerard David, Saint Anthony of Padua with a Nun Dutch, c. 1500 London, Victoria and Albert Museum |
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| Simon Bening, Saint Anthony of Padua From a Book of Hours Flemish (Bruges(, 1531 New York, Pierpont Morgan Library MS M 451, fol. 122v
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| Attributed to Pedro de Obregon the Younger, Saint Anthony of Padua Spanish, 17th Century Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado |
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| Anthony Van Dyck, Saint Anthony of Padua Adoring the Christ Child Flemish, c. 1630-1640 Brussels, Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique |
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| Francisco de Zurbaran, Saint Anthony of Padua Spanish, 1635-1650 Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado |
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| Gaspard de Crayer, Saint Anthony of Padua Flemish, 1655 Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado |
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| Antonio de Pereda, Saint Anthony of Padua Spanish, Second half of the 17th Century Budapest, Museum of Fine Arts |
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| Guercino, St. Anthony of Padua Italian, c. 1656 Private Collection |
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| Alonso Cano, Saint Anthony of Padua From the Capilla de Santa Maria de Jesus, Alcala de Heneres Spanish, c. 1660 Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado |
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| Francisco de Herrera el Mozo, Saint Anthony of Padua Spanish, c. 1650-1685 Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado |
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| Bartolome Esteban Murillo, Saint Anthony of Padua Spanish, 1668 Seville, Museo de Bellas Artes |
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| Claudio Coello, Saint Anthony of Padua Spanish, Second Half of the 17th Century Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado |
This became by far the most widely known image of Saint Anthony from the seventeenth century to our own day. Over time, the details of the event (the room, the light) were replaced by a simplified image of Saint Anthony standing, holding the lily, the book and the Holy Child.
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| Giuseppe Bazzani, Saint Anthony of Padua Italian, 1740-1750 London, National Gallery |
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| Johann Jakob Zeiller, St. Anthony of Padua Austrian, c.1762 Ottobeuren, Monastery Church of Saints Theodore and Alexander |
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| Giambattista Tiepolo, Saint Anthony of Padua Italian, 1767-1769 Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado |
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| Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, Saint Anthony of Padua French, c. 1825-1850 Paris, Musée du Louvre |
© M. Duffy, 2011, updated 2017. Revised and updated 2021.
* This article was originally written ten years ago, in June of 2011. Those intervening ten years have seen an explosion in the amount of information and images that are available online. Indeed, this is one area in which the disastrous pandemic caused by the COVID virus has had a beneficial effect. Museums and libraries were closed and, therefore, had to turn to the internet to keep their presence alive. Much more information about collections was shared during this past year by some museums than they have shared in the last ten!
It has been my continual practice to periodically revisit my prior essays so as to incorporate new information or newly available or updated images. Refinements in the technology of images and the availability of increased bandwidth means that newer images are generally far more detailed and rich than those available in earlier years. For this reason I am constantly searching for and replacing images.
This year I found so much new material on Saint Anthony and the miracles he performed, as well as the charming story of his sermon to the fish that I decided to totally revamp the article. To all intents and purposes it is a new article.