St. Anthony of Padua

As a general rule, since the XVI century, but especially since the XVII century, the devotion to Saint Anthony of Padua -a Franciscan religious of Portuguese origin who lived in Italy in the XIII century, where he died at the age of thirty-six, having distinguished himself for his preaching and his dedication to the poor and prisoners-, preferred the image of the saint with the Child Jesus in his arms, recalling an event that was widely spread and that occurred when the saint was visiting the house of an acquaintance. At a given moment, the latter looked out of the window and saw St. Anthony contemplating, enraptured, a beautiful and resplendent child that he was holding in his arms. Cano represents him following the traditional iconography, as a young man with a wide monastic tonsure, wearing the sackcloth and the short cloak of his Order. Standing and static, he holds the Child in his arms, close to his head, as if to contemplate him very closely. Visual communication is established between them, although the gaze of the saint remains absorbed in the wonder of the divine presence. As in other small sculptures by Cano, the head is carved separately, although in this case this technical peculiarity is more surprising given the small size. The modeling of the habit is resolved with monumental simplicity and with a truly masterful naturalism, typical of the artist who was celebrated since the eighteenth century for his excellence in the “match of cloths”. The only thing that deviates somewhat from the superb naturalism of the carving is the volume of the white drapery on which the Child is lying, just where it is held by the hands of the saint; there the small folds bulge as if the Child did not exert any weight on them. JMM / Extracted from: Moya Morales, J.; Rodríguez-Acosta Márquez, J.M.: Alonso Cano en el Legado Gómez-Moreno. Granada, 2008.