''Saints Christopher, Jerome and Louis of Toulouse'' is an oil-on-panel painting by the Italian Renaissance artist

Giovanni Bellini Giovanni Bellini (; c. 1430 – 29 November 1516) was an Italian Renaissance painter, probably the best known of the Bellini family of Venetian painters. He was raised in the household of Jacopo Bellini, formerly thought to have been his father, ...

, executed in 1513, and housed in the church of

San Giovanni Crisostomo San Giovanni Grisostomo (English: Saint John Chrysostom) is a small church in the ''sestiere'' or neighborhood of Cannaregio, Venice. The church was founded in 1080, destroyed by fire in 1475, then rebuilt starting in 1497 by Mauro Codussi and hi ...

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

History

The painting dates to Bellini's late career, when he had adopted

Giorgione Giorgio Barbarelli da Castelfranco (; 1470s – 17 September 1510), known as Giorgione, was an Italian painter of the Venetian school during the High Renaissance, who died in his thirties. He is known for the elusive poetic quality of his work, ...

's tonalism. It had been commissioned in 1494 by the Venetian merchant Giorgio Diletti. It is however signed and dated 1513, but it is not known why there were some twenty years between the commissioning and the execution.

Description

The layout is that of the

Holy Conversation In art, a (; plural: ''sacre conversazioni''), meaning "holy (or sacred) conversation", is a genre developed in Italian Renaissance painting, with a depiction of the Virgin and Child (the Virgin Mary with the infant Jesus) amidst a group of sain ...

typical of the Venetian tradition, largely owed to works by Bellini himself, with an arch opening to a landscape in the background, and three figures of saints. Instead of the usual throne with the Virgin, there is St. Jerome, portrayed as a hermit, on a rock, while reading the Bible. Below, separated by a parapet where is the cartouche with the signature, are St. Christopher and a Saint bishop. The latter had been originally identified as St. Augustine based on text on the book (''

De civitate Dei ''On the City of God Against the Pagans'' (), often called ''The City of God'', is a book of Christian philosophy written in Latin by Augustine of Hippo in the early 5th century AD. Augustine wrote the book to refute allegations that Christian ...

''), which was later revealed to be apocryphal, as it is not placed on the front cover. Basing on the presence of lilies on the cloak, those of the

House of Anjou Angevin or House of Anjou may refer to: *County of Anjou or Duchy of Anjou, a historical county, and later Duchy, in France **Angevin (language), the traditional langue d'oïl spoken in Anjou **Counts and Dukes of Anjou *House of Ingelger, a Franki ...

, the character has been recognized as

St. Louis of Toulouse Saint Louis of Toulouse (9 February 1274 – 19 August 1297), also known as Louis of Anjou, was a Neapolitan prince of the Capetian House of Anjou and a Catholic bishop. Life Louis was born in Brignoles, Provence (or in Italy, at Nocera, wher ...

. The saints were perhaps chosen depending from

Neoplatonic Neoplatonism is a version of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a series of thinkers. Among the common id ...

themes, with St. Louis symbolizing the contemplative and liturgic life, and St. Christopher symbolizing preaching. According to this view, Jerome would thus be the highest point of spiritual life. The arch above him is a symbol of the Catholic church, and has a Greek inscription of the Psalm 14, referring to St. Jerome as the sage mentioned in it. The use of Greek derives from San Crisostomo's role as church of the Greek-speaking Venetians.

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saints Christopher, Jerome and Louis of Toulouse Paintings by Giovanni Bellini 1513 paintings Bellini Bellini category:Paintings of Saint Christopher Paintings in Venice Books in art