Saint Anthony of Padua appearing to a Knight

Despite its diminutive dimensions, this painting distils a whole narrative into its picture space. Distant hills, umber-toned buildings, a brooding sky and clouds have all been laid in with a thickly loaded brush, the shape and texture of the bristles still visible in the energetic brushstrokes. An intriguing story is unfolding: a knight has been thrown from his horse and both he and his confidently painted steed look up to the vision of a saint born aloft in a cocoon of billowing clouds. Hastening away is a second rider, with the pink blur of his cloak flying out behind him, just visible behind the low rocks at the edge of the road. Above, and identifiable from his Franciscan habit and lilies, Saint Anthony of Padua appears to be blessing the fallen rider. As the patron saint of lost and stolen articles, the knight may have invoked the saint for the return of his lost property, whisked away by the retreating rider.  

The painting’s author is as yet unknown. When it joined the collection at Dulwich Picture Gallery in the early nineteenth century, the painting was attributed to Diego Velázquez (1599-1660), the foremost painter at the Spanish court in the seventeenth century. The attribution was revised to Spanish School in 1880, and both the painting’s meaning and author have remained an enigma ever since. The small scale and loose rendering of the work give it a personal, informal feel. Perhaps painted to commemorate a similar tale as that depicted, it may have been used in a domestic setting for personal devotion.