Saints Peter and Francis of Assisi

This painting depicts the Saints Peter and Francis of Assisi (1182-1226), recognisable by their personal effects: a key for Peter and the brown robe with a knotted rope for Francis. The sketchy quality of the brushwork is unexpected for a painting on copper and for a painting within the circle of the Bolognese painter, Ludovico Carracci (1555-1619). The anachronistic meeting of these two saints in this vast landscape is also unusual. Perhaps this work was painted for personal devotion with a very specific patron in mind.  

Paintings on copper are known for their intense saturation, luminous colouring, and small scale that makes them particularly suited to personal devotion. The smoothness and rigidity of copper plates, and the fact that copper does not absorb pigment, allows for a wide variety of brushwork to be employed on its surface. Typically, however, paintings on copper are painted finely and delicately because of their usual small scale – rendering this loosely-painted scene unusual.