Lot 27

Jan Kryštof Liška (1650 - 1712) DER HEILIGE ANTONIUS

Saint Anthony is usually depicted as a symbol of asceticism and renunciation of material goods. According to a legend he gave up on his property after the God's revelation and walked into a desert where the devil followed him and tempted him to make him leave the sacred journey. Various demos appeared, hereby painted by Jan Kryštof Liška as somehow crooked cupids with bat wings. Saint Anthony raises one hand in a mute gesture and opens his mouth for a prayer. This is a sketch of the image of St. Antonín of Padua from the Capuchin monastery (Church of the Three Kings) in Mnichovské Hradiště. The oil painting on canvas is secondarily adjusted on a hard paper base. The radiograph offers a view of a brisk skill. Despite the fact that it is evident that the painter builds this small composition without hesitation, in essence alla prima, there is an authorial change in the position of the saint's left hand. Sacral motifs were a common subject of the author. The work has been restored and a radiological survey has been made for it.