''Saint Rosalie Interceding for the Plague-stricken of Palermo'' is a painting of 1624 by
Anthony van Dyck
Sir Anthony van Dyck (, many variant spellings; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Brabantian Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Southern Netherlands and Italy.
The seventh c ...
, in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
in New York since 1871.
The painting depicts
Saint Rosalia
Rosalia (1130–1166), also called La Santuzza or "''The Little Saint''", and in Sicilian as "Rusulia", is the patron saint of Palermo in Italy, Camargo, Chihuahua, and three towns in Venezuela: El Hatillo, Zuata, and El Playon. She is es ...
, the patron saint of
Palermo
Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...
, interceding for the city during an outbreak of the
plague
Plague or The Plague may refer to:
Agriculture, fauna, and medicine
*Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis''
* An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural)
* A pandemic caused by such a disease
* A swarm of pes ...
. In the background can be seen the port of Palermo and
Monte Pellegrino
Mount Pellegrino is a hill facing east on the bay of Palermo, Sicily, southern Italy, located north of the city.
It is 606 metres (1,970 ft) high with panorama views of the city, its surrounding mountains and the Tyrrhenian Sea. In his b ...
.
The painting was one of six of Saint Rosalia produced in
Palermo
Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...
by van Dyck in the late summer of 1624 and early 1625, when the city was quarantined. He returned to the subject in 1629 with ''
Coronation of Saint Rosalia'' (Vienna) and ''
Saint Rosalia Interceding for the City of Palermo'' (Ponce, Puerto Rico).
The work is currently (2020) on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was an early acquisition by the institution, whose curators initially mistook it for an
Assumption of the Virgin
The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Catholic_Mariology#Dogmatic_teachings, Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it in 1950 in his apostolic constitution ''Munificentissimus Deus'' as follows:
We proclaim and d ...
. An undated but probably autograph copy of the work is now in the
Alte Pinakothek
The Alte Pinakothek (, ''Old Pinakothek'') is an art museum located in the Kunstareal area in Munich, Germany. It is one of the oldest galleries in the world and houses a significant collection of Old Master paintings. The name Alte (Old) Pinak ...
in Munich.
History
The saint's remains (she died in 1166) were said to have been found on
Mount Pellegrino
Mount Pellegrino is a hill facing east on the bay of Palermo, Sicily, southern Italy, located north of the city.
It is 606 metres (1,970 ft) high with panorama views of the city, its surrounding mountains and the Tyrrhenian Sea. In his b ...
on 15 July 1624, the same year as the painting was executed. The piece was bought or commissioned by
Antonio Ruffo
Antonio Ruffo (1610 or 1611 - 16 June 1678) was an important Sicilian politician, nobleman, patron and collector from the Ruffo di Calabria family. He was probably born in Castle Bagnara or Messina and died in Messina.
His collections included ...
, a Sicilian nobleman and art collector, who later also owned ''
Aristotle with a Bust of Homer
''Aristotle with a Bust of Homer'' ( nl, Aristoteles bij de buste van Homerus), also known as ''Aristotle Contemplating a Bust of Homer'', is an oil-on-canvas painting by Rembrandt that depicts Aristotle wearing a gold chain and contemplating a ...
'' by
Rembrandt
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...
, which he commissioned in 1653, and who was patron to
Matthias Stom
Matthias Stom or Matthias Stomer (c. 1600 – after 1652) was a Dutch, or possibly Flemish, painter who is only known for the works he produced during his residence in Italy. He was influenced by the work of non-Italian followers of Caravaggio in ...
. In recent years, using the technique of
radiograph
Radiography is an imaging technique using X-rays, gamma rays, or similar ionizing radiation and non-ionizing radiation to view the internal form of an object. Applications of radiography include medical radiography ("diagnostic" and "therapeut ...
y based on neutron emission, it has been discovered that for this particular painting, van Dyck re-used a canvas which had previously borne a sketch for a self-portrait.
References
* This article contains elements from the equivalent article on Italian Wikipedia
1624 paintings
Paintings by Anthony van Dyck
Paintings in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Paintings of children
Paintings of Saint Rosalia
Epidemics in art
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