![]() ![]() There was an established tradition of invoking the protection of Our Lady of Tenderness from the plague and so by referencing the ancient icon in the embrace of the Virgin and Child Crivelli asks for her intercession also. This church was located in the Marches which had been ravaged by plague in the last decades of the 15th Century. The Madonna and Child to whom she prays are closely styled on a type of Byzantine icon known as Eleusa or the Virgin of Tenderness. St Sebastian can only have been included for one reason: his cult as a plague saint. The choice of St Francis was an obvious one: it was a Franciscan Church. The two saints who flank the Virgin’s throne must have been of her choosing. Moreover, the inscription at the base of the throne tells the viewer that she paid for this work “at no small expense and of her own money”. ![]() but her late husband’s absence is striking, once noticed. She is positioned in the customary place of the patron. Her late husband’s will had asked that she found a chapel where Mass could be offered for the repose of his soul. The little woman praying by the feet of St Francis looks like a nun but, in fact, she is a widow wearing a customary black veil. However, in this painting there is one detail which is anything but symbolic. Their function is to symbolise a facet of the sacred mystery shown. In a Crivelli painting you expect eye-catching detail fruit, flower, birds. Presented by Elizabeth Mary, widow of the second Marquess of Westminster, 1870, NG807. “The Virgin and Child with Saints Francis and Sebastian”. ![]() Crivelli’s Virgin and Child with Saints Francis and SebastianĬarlo Crivelli. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |