Saint Augustine and Two Angels Adoring the Crucifix
1685/1695
Medium
Pen and brown ink, heightened with lead white, over red chalk on cream laid paper, laid down on cream laid paper
Dimensions
Primary support: 32.7 × 25.6 cm (12 7/8 × 10 1/8 in.); Secondary support: 38.5 × 29.9 cm (15 3/16 × 11 13/16 in.)
Classification
pen and ink drawings
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
150768
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
One of the most sought-after painters in late 17th-century Rome, Passeri was also a prolific draftsman. The tenderly depicted venerating saint may be identified as Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (340–430), whose miter and crosier are held by two angels, while his numerous writings are represented by the open book at his feet. A sinner turned saint who lived long after the Crucifixion, Augustine could never have knelt at the Cross as this vision suggests.
About the Artist
Giuseppe Passeri · 1654–1714
**Giuseppe Passeri (1654–1714)** was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active throughout his career in his native city of Rome. Born on 12 March 1654, he was the nephew of the painter and biographer Giovanni Battista Passeri, who served as his first master before he entered the studio of the leading Roman artist Carlo Maratta. Passeri worked firmly within the late Baroque tradition, produ...