Neapolitan school; second half of the 17th century. "The Virgin and Child appearing to Saint Anthony of Padua". Oil on canvas adhered to panel. It presents old restorations. Measurements: 59,5 x 78 cm. In an idealized landscape, in which stands out a great break of glory, arranged in the superior zone of the composition, is placed the figure of a saint kneeling dressed with a grey habit and raising his look and his open hands towards the sky, where the Virgin and the Child are. The Child Jesus descends from a break in Glory in which the Virgin is also situated together with more angels. Both protagonists look at the saint and establish a relationship with him. St. Anthony of Padua is, after St. Francis of Assisi, the most popular of the Franciscan saints. He was born in Lisbon in 1195 and only spent the last two years of his life in Padua. After studying at the convent of Santa Cruz in Coimbra, he entered the Order of Friars Minor in 1220, where he changed his Christian name from Fernando to Antonio. After teaching theology in Bologna, he travelled through southern and central France, preaching in Arles, Montpellier, Puy, Limoges and Bourges. In 1227 he took part in the general chapter at Assisi. In 1230 he was involved in the transfer of the remains of St. Francis. He preached in Padua and died there at the age of 36 in 1231. He was canonised only a year after his death, in 1232. Until the end of the 15th century, the cult of St. Anthony remained located in Padua. From the following century onwards, he became, at first, the national saint of the Portuguese, who placed the churches they built abroad under his patronage, and then a universal saint. He is depicted as a beardless young man with a broad monastic tonsure, dressed in the brown habit of the Franciscans. One of his most frequent attributes is the book, which identifies him as a sacred writer. Another distinctive iconographic feature is the branch of lily, an element borrowed from his panegyrist Bernardine of Siena. Saint Anthony is often depicted with the Infant Jesus, alluding to an apparition he had in his cell. It became the most popular attribute of this saint from the 16th century onwards, and was particularly popular in the Baroque art of the Counter-Reformation. The latter is the one chosen for the present work: the Child is accompanied by the Virgin, without following the text exactly, which says that Jesus appeared on a book. This "extra" figure also appears in other well-known works on the same theme. Dimensions 59.5 x 78 cm.