Saint Helena contemplating the Holy relics

Features

Origin:  Milano, Italy

Description

Oil on board. The nails of the cross, the Crown of thorns and the land of Calvary are relics brought to Italy from Jerusalem by Saint Helena; You must therefore recognize the santa in devout contemplation, though lacking the aureole and Crown, its typical attributes. His cult is essentially milanese, why in Milan Cathedral preserves the sacred nail; formerly there were also other relics brought from Jerusalem, guarded ab antiquo in underlying Church of Santa Tecla and then distributed among the cathedrals of Monza and Como. The remarkable pictorial ductus depends definitely by the two greatest painters ecstatic milanesi, Morazzone and Cairo, but the painting shows up already a development of the late seventeenth century. The high quality we can induce to imagine an illustrious autograph, to be chosen between Ladd, Abbiati, Vimercati, Legnanino but reading items did not allow us a positive identification. The painting was consolidated with parchettatura and restored.

Artwork dimensions (cm):
Height: 63
Width: 51