Bonaventure

Carlo Crivelli painted this image of Saint Bonaventure around 1488 as part of one of his elaborate polyptych altarpieces in the Marches region. Crivelli, a Venetian-born painter who spent his career in the Marches, created some of the most visually distinctive altarpieces of the Italian Renaissance. The Franciscan theologian Bonaventure was frequently included in altarpieces for Franciscan churches. Carlo Crivelli was a Venetian-trained painter who spent most of his career in the Marche, the central Italian region east of the Apennines, where he executed altarpieces for churches in Ascoli Piceno, Camerino, and other provincial centers.

Tempera and gold on panel with Crivelli's signature ornamental richness and sharp linear definition. The saint's features and vestments are rendered with the meticulous detail and decorative exuberance characteristic of his mature style.