Saturday, August 13, 2011

In a number of portrayals of the martyr-saint in the XVIIth Century not only does a single arrow pierce his skin, he seems to be waiting in resigned anticipation of the coming penetrations--e.g., José Leonardo (c.1635) (See: Figure 24), Paolo Pagani, (c. 1696) (See: Figure 25), and Mattia Preti (called: il Cavalier Calabrese) (c. 1660) (See: Figure 26), among others. It appears that in a number of these latter paintings the martyr-saint has already slipped into an ecstatic state. By the XXth Century, more than two or three penetrating arrows become exceedingly rare, although not nonexistent.

No comments:

Post a Comment