Andalusian School, XVIII century. Lot n° 17

Andalusian School, XVIII century. "Saint Rosalia". Oil on canvas. Measurements: 51,5 x 52 cm; 83 x 65 cm (frame). Devotional painting representing St. Rosalia of Palermo, wearing a crown of flowers and taking in his hands a stick with lilies that approaches his heart. With her gaze looking upwards, her rounded features are ecstatic. From the whiteness of her face, slightly flushed on her cheeks, emanates a light that turns into golden shades projecting on the background, so that her flesh seems to radiate divine light. The robe has been skillfully draped, contributing to the dynamism of the portrait. The palette is rich in carmine, ochre and mauve tones that accompany the soft shades of the flesh tones and the gilding of some details. Rosalia of Palermo was an Italian saint of the 12th century, whose cult was promoted by the Benedictines. She is considered a protector against infectious diseases, such as the plague, and is also invoked to seek her protection in difficult times. Rosalia lived in solitude, poverty and penance, and according to her hagiography she performed miracles such as the extinction of the plague that ravaged her native Sicily. Patroness of Palermo, she enjoys great devotion in Sicily. Saint Rosalia was an important subject in Italian Renaissance and Baroque painting, particularly in the sacre conversazioni (group images of saints flanking the Virgin Mary) of artists such as Riccardo Quartararo, Mario di Laurito, Vincenzo La Barbara and possibly Antonello da Messina. But it was the Flemish master Anthony Van Dyck (1599-1637), who was caught in Palermo during the plague of 1624, who produced the largest number of paintings of her. Saint Rosalia is usually depicted as a young woman with flowing hair, wearing a Franciscan hood or a crown of flowers and leaning toward the city of Palermo in her peril.