Robert Jenkins Nevin

1839 - 1906

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Enclosed within the pale, peach-colored walls of a courtyard, two women with two children and three men line up before a man with a gold halo standing in the lower right corner in this vertical painting. All the people have pale or olive-toned skin except for one man, to our left, who has a light brown complexion. The cleanshaven man to our right, Saint Anthony, has light skin, short blond hair, and he wears a gold-trimmed, burgundy-red cloak and pale green hose. His disk-like gold halo has a band of rings near its perimeter. In his left hand, closer to us, he holds a white cloth purse by its strings, as he offers coins with his right right hand. The boy receiving the coins in a shallow bowl has blond hair and is dressed in a spring-green cloak, with yellow hose and black shoes. He stands next to a woman wearing a patched, caramel-brown dress and a cream-white veil over her head, neck, and shoulders. She holds a blond infant wearing sky blue. Another woman, stooped with age, hair also veiled, stands with them. This group of four all have pale skin. Behind this group and to our left is a man with an olive complexion and a black beard and hair. He wears a fraying black robe. His chemise pokes through a hole in his right sleeve and he leans forward on bare feet. He holds an ivory-white object, perhaps a cloth or bread, by his mouth with the hand farther from us. Behind him a taller, older man, with white hair and beard walks to our left with his eyes closed, steadied by a staff and led by a small black and white dog on a rope. He wears a green cap, topped with black fur, and a pale blue cape over a brown robe. A bearded man with light brown skin enters the scene from our left, walking staff in hand. He wears a turban-like cap, a brown robe, and black shoes. Through an open, arched doorway to our right, beyond Saint Anthony, a second image of the saint is shown descending a staircase with purse in hand. Also with a gold halo, he approaches another arched opening with a stout wooden door, through which piles of gold coins are heaped. The arcade of the second level of the courtyard fills the top quarter of the painting and extends off the top edge. A shield-shaped coat of arms is shown over the doorway closest to us to our right, with three stars across a gray band against a golden yellow background.
Master of the Osservanza, Sano di Pietro, Saint Anthony Distributing His Wealth to the Poor, c. 1430/1435, tempera on poplar panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.20

Saint Anthony Distributing His Wealth to the Poor

Master of the Osservanza, Sano di Pietro · c. 1430/1435 · tempera on poplar panel ·  Accession ID  1952.5.20

Three pale-skinned men wearing long, dark robes stand in and near a dense cluster of vivid, mint-green buildings with arched openings and clay-red colored roofs that nearly fill this vertical painting. Near the lower center of the composition, two bearded men stand in an open doorway looking out at the younger, cleanshaven man who stands barefoot to our right, facing them. At the door, the man in front has a long, white beard, and he holds a red book, or manuscript, in his left hand while holding up his right hand with his first two fingers raised. The man behind him has a red beard and hair. The younger man to our right bows his head, encircled with a gold halo, toward the pair in the doorway. The younger man holds one hand over his heart, and in the other holds a long, gnarled walking stick. The skin of all three men has a greenish cast. The green buildings are tall and narrow. Beyond the buildings, near the top of the panel, a row of tall, dark green trees are silhouetted against the shiny gold sky. The gold background is punched with a decorative band of small circles and arches along the top edge of the panel.
Master of the Osservanza, Sano di Pietro, Saint Anthony Leaving His Monastery, c. 1430/1435, tempera on poplar panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.21

Saint Anthony Leaving His Monastery

Master of the Osservanza, Sano di Pietro · c. 1430/1435 · tempera on poplar panel ·  Accession ID  1952.5.21