Holy Water Font by St Peter's Basilica in Rome

The painting was commissioned and executed in 1868 by Léon Bonnat, as indicated by the work’s inception date and the artist’s record of the same year. It depicts a scene at St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, specifically a holy water font, and was created during Bonnat’s engagement with religious and pilgrimage imagery. The canvas measures 46 cm in height and 38 cm in width, and was produced in France and Rome, reflecting Bonnat’s movements between Paris and Italy during the late 1860s.

The painting is held in the collection of the Hermitage Museum, where it is located. The work depicts a holy water font within St. Peter's Basilica, along with pilgrims and figures in Ciociaro costume. While the piece was created in 1868 in both France and Rome, the provided sources do not list a specific inventory or accession number for the museum, nor do they detail any past or current exhibition history for the work.

The work titled Holy Water Font by St Peter's Basilica in Rome is an oil painting on canvas measuring 46 × 38 cm, completed in 1868. It was produced in France and Rome and is held in the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg. The composition portrays a pilgrimage scene that includes a holy water font, a pilgrim, a woman, and figures in Ciociaro costume, referencing St Peter's Basilica.

As a religious subject rendered by the French academic painter Léon Bonnat, the piece exemplifies 19th‑century academic interest in sacred travel and liturgical detail. Its presence in a major Russian collection highlights the cross‑European circulation of Bonnat’s work.

Léon Bonnat, a French painter and professor at the École des Beaux-Arts, completed Holy Water Font by St Peter's Basilica in Rome in 1868. This oil painting captures a scene within St. Peter's Basilica, featuring a pilgrim near a holy water font. The artwork is characteristic of the Naturalism movement and is held in the collection of the State Hermitage Museum.