Spanish school; 18th century.

Spanish School; XVIII century.
"St. Anthony with Child".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Measurements: 57 x 45 cm; 67 x 56 cm (frame).
St. Anthony of Padua is, after St. Francis of Assisi, the most popular of the Franciscan saints. He was born in Lisbon in 1195 and only spent the last two years of his life in Padua. After studying in the convent of Santa Cruz in Coimbra, in 1220 he entered the Order of Friars Minor, where he changed his first name, Fernando, to Antonio. After teaching theology in Bologna, he traveled through southern and central France, preaching in Arles, Montpellier, Puy, Limoges and Bourges. In 1227 he participated in the general chapter of Assisi. In 1230 he was in charge of the transfer of the remains of St. Francis. He preached in Padua and died there at the age of 36 in 1231. He was canonized only a year after his death, in 1232. Until the end of the 15th century, the cult of St. Anthony remained located in Padua. From the following century he became, at first, the national saint of the Portuguese, who placed under his patronage the churches they built abroad, and then a universal saint. He was invoked for the rescue of shipwrecked sailors and the liberation of prisoners. The Portuguese sailors invoked him to have good wind in the sails, fixing his image on the mast of the ship. Nowadays, he is invoked mainly to recover lost objects. However, there is no trace of this last patronage before the 17th century. It seems to be due to a play on words with his name: he was called Antonio de Pade or de Pave, an abbreviation of Padua (Padova). From there, it was attributed to him the gift of recovering the epaves, that is to say, the lost goods. He is represented as a beardless young man with a large monastic tonsure, dressed in a habit, and usually appears with the Child Jesus, holding him in his arms, in allusion to an apparition he had in his cell. It became the most popular attribute of this saint from the 16th century onwards, being especially popular in the Baroque art of the Counter-Reformation.