Artwork
Saint Roch
Saint Roch is an oil painting by the High Renaissance artist Palma Vecchio. It dates from 1527 and is held in the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The painting's function as a devotional object would have invited viewers to seek Saint Roch's intercession for healing and protection.
The painting depicts Saint Roch, a 14th-century French pilgrim saint traditionally venerated as a protector against plague. He is shown as the main subject, consistent with the conventions of religious art from this period. Saint Roch is recognizable through his standard iconographic attributes: he typically appears as a pilgrim, often with a plague sore on his thigh and accompanied by a dog that brought him bread during his illness.
The work's religious genre and its creation in 1527 place it within the context of Venetian Renaissance devotional imagery, when plague saints held particular resonance amid recurring epidemics. The painting's function as a devotional object would have invited viewers to seek Saint Roch's intercession for healing and protection.
Technique & Style
Palma Vecchio executed Saint Roch in 1527 using oil paint on a support, creating a religious work measuring 82 cm in height and 36 cm in width. The relatively narrow vertical format accommodates the depiction of its single standing main subject, Saint Roch. As a religious painting of the High Renaissance, the work employs the oil medium to render the figure, reflecting the artist's approach to the devotional genre.
History & Provenance
The work was created in 1527 by Palma Vecchio, as indicated by the inscription on the painting.
By the mid-seventeenth century, it formed part of the collection of Bartolomeo della Nave in Venice. It was later acquired by Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria and entered the holdings of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, where it remains today.
The painting Saint Roch by Palma Vecchio is held in the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. Historical records indicate the work was previously owned by Bartolomeo della Nave and Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria before entering the museum's holdings. The specific inventory or accession number for this 1527 oil painting is not provided in the available sources.
Furthermore, the provided materials do not contain information regarding any specific exhibitions where this work has been displayed.
Overview
Created in 1527 by the Venetian painter Jacopo Palma, known as Palma Vecchio, this oil painting portrays the Christian saint Roch. The work is part of the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna and exemplifies the religious genre typical of the Italian High Renaissance.
Artist & collection
Artist
Palma Vecchio (c. 1480 – 30 July 1528), born Jacopo Palma, also known as Jacopo Negretti, was a Venetian painter of the Italian High Renaissance. He is called Palma Vecchio in English and Palma il Vecchio in Italian…
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