Saint Anthony of Padua and the Christ Child, flanked by an Angel and putti

The theme of Saint Anthony of Padua holding the Christ Child fascinated Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo in his late career, after his return from Spain in 1770. The composition’s point of departure is a painting of the subject by his father Giovanni Battista in 1769 for S. Pascual Baylon at Aranjuez and today in the Prado (inv. P03007). What probably started as a personal meditation on this theme, ultimately became one of Domenico’s most extended series of drawings, numbering at least 56, alternatively showing the saint in glory surrounded by angels, in a chapel or in an austere cell. Seven drawings of the theme can be found in the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart (G. Knox, Drawings by Giambattista, Domenico and Lorenzo Tiepolo from the Graphische Sammlung Staatsgalerie Stuttgart [...], exhib. cat., 1971, nos. 57-63) and a further twenty examples were offered in the Beauchamp sale at Christie's, London, 15 June 1965.