Panel of painted tiles with San Francisco de Paula

Panel of 35 plain painted tiles representing St Francis of Paola with his walking stick between two shrubs. High up, on his left, is a sun with blazing rays with an inscription.

The whole composition mimics a painting with its frame of smooth blue cane interrupted by clusters of leaves and gilded rosettes. The drawing is produced in black and shaded in red and golden ochre. Mounted on cement.

Flat painted tiles were produced in Spain from the 16th century. After a period of major decline, tiles saw a renaissance with new iconographic designs in the 18th century: hunting, scenes of chivalry, devotional paintings that were mostly applied to house-front tiles, in the Delft style, marking neighbourhoods and streets and risers for staircases.