The Vision of St. Francis of Paola
- Object belonging
- One's own
- Category
- Terracotta sculpture
- City
- Rome
- Location
- Museo Nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia
- Specific location
- Room 22
- Inventory
- PV 13211
- Material and technique
- Terracotta/ patina
- Author
- Pierre Le Gros, the Younger (1666-1719)
- Dating
- 1716
- Dimensions
- 25.6 x 17.5 x 5 cm.
- Origin
- Gorga Collection (1948)
- Image copyright
- SSPSAE e per il Polo Museale della città di Roma
Short description
On his return from Paris, where he had been from April 1715 until October 1716, Pierre le Gros was commissioned to carry out the decoration of a chapel in the church of San Giacomo degli Incurabili. The French artist was at the height of his fame, and sculpted a marble altarpiece depicting San Francesco di Paola Praying for the Sick, as well as the heads of the cherubs and the stucco above, works that he conceived and designed. In the terracotta model Le Gros is still working out the various parts of the composition: the saint, kneeling outside on the ground, is overcome when he sees two angels holding a scroll with an image of the Madonna. In the background a monk witnesses the event from a portico. In the final work the scene is moved to the inside of a church and numerous characters are added.
Cristiano Giometti
