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St. Anthony Abbot
(Renaissance Europe )
Together with a panel depicting Saint Sebastian (37.690), this painting was originally the wing of a triptych. It depicts the hermit saint Anthony Abbot (ca. 251-356), Christianity’s first monk, with his typical attributes: a T-shaped staff and a small pig. The pig is a reference to the order of monks known as the Hospital Brothers of Saint Anthony, who raised swine as a way to fund their care for those afflicted by an infectious disease known as “Saint Anthony’s Fire.”
Very little is known about the artist, Monaldo, sometimes called “Truffetta,” meaning trickster." He appears to have been active primarily in his native city of Viterbo (between Siena and Rome). The Walters’ panels are particularly close to his signed altarpiece of the “Lamentation Over the Dead Christ,” dated 1507, in the Palazzo Vitellschi in the nearby town of Tarquinia.
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.
Don Marcello Massarenti Collection, Rome [date and mode of acquisition unknown] [1897 catalogue: no. 330, as Pinturicchio]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1902, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Conservation
| Date | Description | Narrative |
|---|---|---|
| Examination | examined for condition | |
| 6/22/1957 | Treatment | cleaned; other |
| 1/2/1958 | Treatment | cleaned; loss compensation; coated; other |
Geographies
Italy, Lazio, Viterbo
(Place of Origin)
Italy, Viterbo (Place of Origin)
Measurements
Painted surface H including painted black border: 24 3/16 x W: 8 1/4 in. (61.5 x 21 cm); Panel H: 25 7/8 x W: 9 5/8 x D: 13/16 in. (65.8 x 24.5 x 2 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired by Henry Walters with the Massarenti Collection, 1902
Location in Museum
Not on view
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
37.690