The ''Temptation of St. Thomas'' is a painting by the Spanish
Baroque painter
Baroque painting is the painting associated with the Baroque cultural movement. The movement is often identified with Absolutism, the Counter Reformation and Catholic Revival,[Diego Velázquez
Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (baptized June 6, 1599August 6, 1660) was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV of Spain and Portugal, and of the Spanish Golden Age. He was an individualistic artist of th ...]
, executed in 1632 and housed in the Museum of Sacred Art of
Orihuela Cathedral
Orihuela Cathedral (''Catedral de Orihuela'') is the main Roman Catholic church of Orihuela, Valencian Community, southern Spain.
History
It was built above a pre-existing Muslim mosque as a simple parish church and was later converted into main ...
, southern
Spain.
The work, for a period, was attributed to
Murcian painter
Nicolás de Villacis
Nicolás de Villacis (9 September 1616 – 8 April 1694) was a Spanish Baroque painter from Murcia, a disciple of Diego Velázquez.
He met Velázquez (their relationship is reported by Antonio Palomino) in Madrid during his youth, and later stud ...
, until it was recognized as Velázquez's in the 1920s. It portrays the episode of the life of
Saint Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wit ...
when, as a novice, he resisted the temptation represented by a prostitute, who is visible in the background door. The saint is held by an angel, while another is preparing to dress him with a white ribbon, representing chastity.
''Temptation of St. Thomas'' is among Velázquez's better-known paintings.
See also
*
List of works by Diego Velázquez
References
Sources
*
External links
''Velázquez '' exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on this painting (see index)
1632 paintings
Religious paintings by Diego Velázquez
Angels in art
Paintings in Spain
Prostitution in paintings
Books in art
Paintings of Thomas Aquinas
{{16C-painting-stub