Saint Andrew
Carlo Crivelli1476
The National Gallery, London
London, United Kingdom
his bearded saint is one of four in the upper tier of a polyptych (a multi-panelled altarpiece) which Crivelli painted in 1476 for the high altar of the Dominican Church in Ascoli Piceno in the Italian Marche. He is Saint Andrew, the first Apostle, and a particular favourite of the Dominican Order as a preacher and a converter of non-Christians. Crivelli has shown him in his usual guise as an old man, clasping a cross and a Gospel book.
In a masterly display of foreshortening – a visual trick of distorting objects so that they seem to recede into the picture – Crivelli has painted the cross and the fluttering pages of the book at a dramatically acute angle. A love of realistic detail – the nails in the cross, the wrinkled edges of the parchment pages, the crow’s feet around the saint’s eyes – is typical of Crivelli.
- Title: Saint Andrew
- Creator: Carlo Crivelli
- Date Created: 1476
- Physical Dimensions: 61 x 40 cm
- Medium: Tempera on poplar
- School: Italian
- More Info: Explore the National Gallery’s paintings online
- Artist Dates: about 1430/5 - about 1494
- Artist Biography: Crivelli was born in Venice and probably trained with Squarcione in Padua. He spent most of his life in the Marches (eastern central Italy), after periods in Venice and Zara. Crivelli was active as a painter by 1457 when he was condemned in Venice for adultery. He was very successful as a maker of altarpieces in the Marches. These are especially well represented in the Collection. Crivelli was influenced by the Vivarini at an early stage. From Squarcione, or one of his pupils such as Giorgio Schiavone, Crivelli could learn simulated marble architecture; festoons of fruit; parchment cartellini and music-making putti. Venetian painting up to this point had been dominated by the Late Gothic style, such as that of Jacopo Bellini and his son Gentile. Crivelli was a fine technical painter and his pictures are in a good state of preservation. He had a strong linear decorative sense and was a brilliant colourist. His work was particularly appreciated in the 19th century, as witnessed by the price paid for the Gallery's 'Madonna della Rondine'.
- Acquisition Credit: Bought, 1868
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