Vision of Saint Thomas Aquinas

Vision of Saint Thomas Aquinas

about 1695
Artist
unknown artist
Country
Colombia
Object
painting
Medium
Oil paint on wood panel
Accession Number
1990.361
Credit Line
Gift of the Stapleton Foundation of Latin American Colonial Art, made possible by the Renchard family

Unknown artist, Vision of Saint Thomas Aquinas, about 1695. Oil paint on wood panel; 20¾ × 14½ in. Gift of the Stapleton Foundation of Latin American Colonial Art, made possible by the Renchard family, 1990.361.

Dimensions
frame height: 28 5/8 in, 72.7075 cm; frame width: 22 3/4 in, 57.785 cm; frame depth: 3 5/8 in, 9.2075 cm; height: 20.75 in, 52.7050 cm; width: 14.5 in, 36.8300 cm
Department
Mayer Center, Latin American Art
Collection
Latin American Art
This object is currently on view

This finely painted oil on panel depicts the vision of Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274).  Aquinas was an Italian Dominican friar and theologian.  In this episode, he experiences a vision of the Virgin Mary and is given a chastity belt by two angels.  In the background, a prostitute, hired by Aquinas' family to seduce him away from a holy life, flees the scene.

The painting is based on a print of 1689-91 by Benoit Thiboust (French), after the painting in Rome by Giacinto Calandrucci (Italian). It was common practice for Spanish Colonial painters to reference European engravings brought to the Americas for iconographic sources (for additional information see www.colonialart.org). 

-- Michael A. Brown and Julie Wilson Frick, 2013 (revised by Kathryn Santner, Frederick and Jan Mayer Fellow of Spanish Colonial Art, 2023)

Known Provenance
Collected by Daniel Casey Stapleton [1858-1920] while living in Colombia and Ecuador (1895-1914); gifted 26 December 1990 to the Denver Art Museum by the Stapleton Foundation of Latin American Colonial Art, made possible by the Renchard Family.