Saint Margaret of Cortona
Gaspare Traversi
ca. 1758 · Oil on canvas · European Paintings
Traversi is known for bawdy scenes of contemporary Italian life; however, here he presents the key elements in the biography of Margaret of Cortona, a thirteenth‑century nun canonized during his childhood. She is known for running away with a lover as a young woman and bearing a child out of wedlock. When her lover’s dog returned home without him, she discovered his brutal murder and adopted a life of charity and penitence. Here, that very child and the dog appear in the foreground while Satan, meant to symbolize her former life that the church deemed sinful, withdraws defeated into hell.
- Artist
- Gaspare Traversi
- Date
- ca. 1758
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Department
- European Paintings
- Credit line
- Gwynne Andrews Fund, 1968
