Saints Roch, Anthony Abbot and Lucy

The work, an oil on canvas (originally panel) painted in 1513 in Parma, depicts Saints Roch, Anthony Abbot and Lucy and is attributed to Giovanni Battista Cima da Conegliano. Its creation may have been commissioned by the Hospital Brothers of St. Anthony, a charitable order serving plague victims. The painting entered the collection of Empress Josephine at Malmaison, was later owned by her son Eugène de Beauharnais, and from 1843 to 1904 belonged to the Duke of Leuchtenberg, who kept it in Munich and St. Petersburg.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art acquired it in 1907; the work suffered panel‑to‑canvas transfer and possible size reduction.

The painting is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, as a gift of J. Pierpont Morgan in 1907 (inv. 07.122). It was previously housed in the Duke of Leuchtenberg’s collection from 1843 to 1904, having earlier belonged to Eugène de Beauharnais, Viceroy of Italy, and before that to Empress Joséphine at Malmaison. The work has not been on public view since at least 2018.

Painted in 1513, Saints Roch, Anthony Abbot and Lucy represents a significant late work by Giovanni Battista Cima da Conegliano, created during his time in Parma. Art historical scholarship suggests the composition may have directly inspired Correggio's Four Saints, also held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, highlighting Cima's influence on the development of Parmese Renaissance art. The painting's iconography, featuring Saint Anthony elevated centrally alongside plague patrons Roch and Lucy, has led to theories that it was commissioned by the Hospital Brothers of St. Anthony for plague relief contexts.

Historically, the work suffered from misattribution; it was long cataloged as a creation of Cima's probable teacher, Giovanni Bellini, a confusion that persisted through its ownership by Empress Josephine at Malmaison. This attributional shift underscores the evolving critical understanding of Cima's distinct style within the Venetian school.

The 1513 altarpiece by Giovanni Battista Cima da Conegliano exerted a documented influence on later Renaissance art, particularly through its presumed role as a model for Correggio’s "Four Saints", a connection noted in both English and Italian Wikipedia entries. Contemporary scholarship traces its reputation through a series of attributional shifts, including an early misattribution to Giovanni Bellini that was later corrected. Provenance records from the Empress Josephine, the Beauharnais family, and the Duke of Leuchtenberg underscore its historic significance, while its absence from public display since 2018 has kept scholarly attention on its stylistic impact.

The work remains a reference point for studies of Venetian devotional painting and the transmission of iconographic motifs.

This devotional painting by Cima da Conegliano, completed in 1513, depicts three prominent saints. Originally executed on a wood panel using oil paint, the artwork is now part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection in New York, having been transferred to canvas. The work is also known by the title Three Saints.