Saint Anthony Abbot in Meditation
Ca. 1510. Oil on panel.On display elsewhere
Saint Anthony (Ca. 251-356) is reading a book, probably the rules of the Order of Saint Anthony, which rests on a boulder. This rock also holds a bell, which hermits used to drive away demons and temptations. A tau-shaped staff also leans against it, symbolizing it´s owner´s future life and dignity as an abbot. Stylistically, this work is close to Bellini. It may have been made by Giovanni Agostino da Lodi, a Lombard painter active in Venice in 1504. It was acquidred in 1995 from the Franciscan Conceptionists of La Latina in Madrid.
