St Bonaventure

The work titled St Bonaventure was painted by Girolamo da Treviso the Elder in 1490 as an oil painting on panel. It entered the collection of Cornelis Hoogendijk before being acquired by the Rijksmuseum, where it remains on display. The painting measures 50 centimeters in height and 36 centimeters in width.

St Bonaventure, painted by Girolamo da Treviso the Elder around 1490, is a religious oil painting on panel depicting the saint of that name. It entered the collection of Cornelis Hoogendijk and is now housed in the Rijksmuseum, where it remains part of the institution's religious art holdings. The work's significance lies in its early use of oil technique on panel and its representation of Bonaventure within Renaissance devotional practice, influencing later interpretations of the saint in Northern European art.

Girolamo da Treviso the Elder’s oil on canvas, dated 1496, presents a portrait of the Franciscan theologian Saint Bonaventure. The work is part of the Rijksmuseum’s collection and exemplifies late‑15th‑century devotional portraiture, focusing on the saint’s contemplative presence rather than narrative action.

The portrait aligns with a broader trend in the Italian Renaissance of depicting saints in individualized, humanized forms. By presenting Bonaventure in contemporary clerical attire, Girolamo bridges the saint’s medieval legacy with the visual language of his own time, reinforcing the ongoing relevance of theological figures in late‑quattrocento art.