Saint Thomas Aquinas

This half-length figure of a saint comes from the upper tier of a polyptych (multi-panelled altarpiece) which Crivelli painted in 1476 for the high altar of the church of San Domenico, in Ascoli Piceno in the Italian Marche. He is the theologian and Dominican friar Saint Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274). His strong features and the vigorous set of his jaw express his intellectual authority, as does the book he clasps in his left hand, his fingers holding open its fluttering pages.

Crivelli has painted the book half open, with fore-edge towards so us that we see the crinkled edges of the parchment pages; he has made it look like a three-dimensional object, although we know it is not. Crivelli’s skill as a painter of drapery is such that even though Thomas’s robes are black, we can see the deep folds of the hood around his shoulders. The severity of his black and white robes – the uniform of the Dominican Order – contrasts with the opulent gilding of the background.