Collection: St. Dominic in Penitence

ARTIST: Museum Religious Art Classics

ARTWORK NARRATIVE:

Artist: Filippo Tarchiani – c. 1607

The thirteenth-century founder of the Dominican order is shown flagellating himself before an altar, his gaze fixed on a crucifix. The kneeling saint, painted in a muted, naturalistic style, is set against a geometric grid defined by the architecture and ecclesiastical furnishings. Although trained in the academic tradition of late-sixteenth-century Florentine art, Tarchiani made two prolonged visits to Rome where he studied the work of Caravaggio and Orazio Gentileschi. Between 1615 and 1616 he was employed on the same project as Orazio’s famous daughter, Artemisia Gentileschi, who arrived in Florence in 1613.

His feast day is August 8.