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Description: | In this triptych, Christ appears in the centre painting bearing the cross, with a chalice (a symbol of the Christian faith) at his feet. On the right stands St John the Baptist, typically depicted wearing an animal-hair tunic. He carries a staff, an attribute of numerous saints, symbolising their travels and pilgrimages. On the left is St Benedict, founder of the Benedictine Order in the sixth century. He established twelve monasteries and wrote the basic rules that have served as a guide for most of Western monasticism. He is usually depicted with a long white beard, dressed in the habit of a Benedictine abbot. He is seen here holding wheat, symbolising the bread of the Eucharist, and his book of rules. Christopher Wright has commented that, although these paintings are arranged as a triptych, the differing perspectives suggest a different arrangement, probably one over the other. The pictures therefore possibly once formed the pilaster, or narrow upright section, of a large altarpiece. Moreover this would further explain the fact that the panels appear to be from the workshop of Beccafumi rather than by the artist himself, as it was common in the Renaissance for a major artist to leave the minor parts of a large commission to his assistants. | Subjects: | religion (St Benedict John the Baptist and Christ) | Source: | Vads | Creator: | Artist: Beccafumi, Domenico (Italian painter, 1486-1551) Æ Studio of | Identifier: | http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=8713... | Go to resource |
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