Saint Camillus of Lellis Adoring a Crucifixion

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Saint Camillus of Lellis Adoring a Crucifixion

Artist Gaetano Gandolfi (Italian, 1734 - 1802)

Place of OriginBologna, Italy

Dateabout 1793

Dimensions41 3/4 × 29 1/8 in. (106 × 74 cm)

MediumOil on canvas

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LineGift of Patrick Matthiesen of The Matthiesen Gallery, London

Object number

2017.39

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 27

Label TextIn this painting, Gaetano Gandolfi depicts an Italian priest, Camillus (Camillo) de Lellis (1550–1614), as he experiences a miraculous vision. As the saint was praying tearfully before a crucifix, he saw the hands of the figure of the crucified Christ reach toward him and heard a voice saying, "O faint of heart, why are you troubled? Carry on with my support, for it is my work, not yours." Camillus founded the Camillians, or the Ministers of the Sick, a congregation of male nurses who tended those who were ill, battle-wounded, or plague-stricken. The red cross on the kneeling figure’s cassock (clerical robe) is a precursor of the symbols later used by the international aid movements the Red Cross and the Red Crescent. Camillus was canonized in 1746. Born to a family of artists, Gandolfi worked in Bologna where he enjoyed a prolific career as a painter of private devotional pictures such as this example. He also painted monumental altarpieces and murals for churches, decorative frescoes for palaces, as well as portraits and allegorical and historical subjects.Published ReferencesCera, A., ed., La pittura bolognese del’700, Milan 1994, as F.Pedrini, plate 3 (called a work by Filippo Pedrini; identified as “San Camillo De Lellis”).

D.Biagi, Maino, Gaetano Gandolfi, Turin, 1995, p. 373, no. 112, fig. 129, subject wrongly identified as “San Gaetano da Thiene Adora il Crocefisso."

The Matthiesen Gallery, Fifty Paintings, 1535-1825, London, 1993, pp. 172-74, nr. 43, color ill. (as Gaetano Gandolfi).

The Matthiesen Gallery, Collectanea, 1700-1800, London, 1999, pp. 212-14, nr. 46, (repr. col). (as Gaetano Gandolfi; subject identified as “San Camillo De Lellis”).

Christie, Manson & Woods, Ltd, Important Old Master Pictures, Friday 12 December 1980, London, Christie, Manson & Woods, 1980, lot 75, repr., p. 150-151.