Newly born boy wrapped in swaddling bands, the future St Anthony the Abbott, is shown to his mother. Detail of late-1400s rustic fresco by Lombardic itinerant artist Dionisio Baschenis, high on external south wall of Chiesa di Sant’Antonio Abate at Pelugo, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy.
Pelugo, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy: the birth in 251 AD at Koma in Lower Egypt of future hermit saint Anthony the Abbot, as painted in charming rustic style in the late-1400s or early-1500s by a travelling Lombardic artist below the southern eaves of the church dedicated to him at Pelugo, in the scenic Val Rendena. The fresco panel high on the southern external wall of the Chiesa di Sant’Antonio Abate or Church of Saint Anthony the Abbot shows the newborn infant, tightly wrapped in swaddling bands, in the arms of a midwife standing beside his mother’s bed. The artwork is attributed to Dionisio or Dionysius Baschenis, who belonged to a family of itinerant painters based at Averara, near Bergamo. The painting is part of a fresco cycle, spread over 30 panels in two rows, telling the life story of the saint, who is also known as Anthony the Great, Anthony of the Desert, Anthony of Egypt and Anthony the Anchorite. Centuries of sun and rain have all but erased the lower panels, including captions explaining each episode in the vernacular tongue spoken by the Pelugo villagers. However, upper panels such as this were better protected from the weather. The surviving scenes are all by the same hand. Over several decades, the Baschenis family artists decorated dozens of churches throughout Trentino with biblical frescoes. At Pelugo, Dionisio was also responsible for the giant frescoed figure on the church’s west front of St Christopher carrying the Christ Child, which he signed and dated 1493. Nomadic artisans like the Baschenis family used to travel all over the alpine region, selling their skills wherever they could and working mostly at small churches in isolated mountain villages. They painted popular images rather than fine art, but their works successfully communicated the Christian message and Bible stories to the villagers.
Size: 2654px × 2654px
Location: Pelugo, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy.
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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