Saint Rosalia

Anthony van Dyck painted Saint Rosalia around 1625, during his years in Italy where he worked primarily in Genoa and Sicily. Saint Rosalia was a twelfth-century Palermitan hermit whose relics were credited with ending a devastating plague in Palermo in 1624, just a year before this painting was likely executed. Van Dyck, who was in Sicily during the plague, painted several versions of the saint, contributing to the rapid spread of her cult. These paintings mark a deeply felt response to the epidemic he witnessed firsthand, and they combine devotional intensity with the elegant refinement that characterized all of van Dyck's work.

Van Dyck renders Saint Rosalia with the ethereal delicacy that distinguishes his religious paintings from Rubens's more robust treatment of sacred subjects. The soft, luminous flesh tones and the flowing treatment of the saint's hair and garments demonstrate van Dyck's mastery of Venetian coloristic techniques, absorbed during his Italian travels.