Creative Commons License
Saint Gregory the Great
(Baroque Europe )
This painting is from a series depicting famous theologians (scholars who studied and wrote about the nature of God) for the ceiling of the library in the Dominican convent of Santa Maria Novella in Florence.
St. Gregory the Great (AD 540-604) was one of the four Latin Church Fathers (along with Sts. Jerome, Augustine, and Ambrose). As pope, he instituted many reforms of the church service. An angel holds his papal tiara. He is shown here as if seen from below, with the dove, a symbol of the Holy Spirit, suggesting the divine inspiration of his religious writings. In the library, the image would have provided a model of scholarship and piety for the studious Dominican friars.
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.
Carlton M. Slagle, Jr., [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1976, by gift.
Exhibitions
| 1980 | Undercover Stories in Art. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. |
Conservation
| Date | Description | Narrative |
|---|---|---|
| 4/28/1977 | Treatment | repaired |
| 4/9/1984 | Treatment | other |
Geographies
Italy, Florence (Place of Origin)
Measurements
50 1/2 x 41 3/4 in. (128.27 x 106.05 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Carlton M. Slagle, Jr., in memory of his grandfather, Charles W. Slagle, 1976
Location in Museum
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.
37.2530