St. Anthony

Giovanni Bellini's Saint Anthony of around 1470, companion to his Saint Augustine, depicts the Egyptian desert father whose ascetic example inspired Western monasticism with the formal gravity appropriate to the founder of Christian monasticism. Anthony's history of demonic temptation and spiritual combat gave him a particular resonance in Venetian devotional culture, and Bellini's treatment creates a figure of quiet but overwhelming spiritual authority. The panel belongs to the series of individual saint portraits that demonstrate Bellini's mastery of the devotional portrait format.

The early handling is characteristic of Bellini's 1470s manner, with firm linear definition and careful attention to the saint's identifying attributes. The figure is painted with the dignified restraint that Bellini brought to all his sacred subjects, even at this relatively early stage of his career.