Spanish school; 18th century.

Spanish School; XVIII century.
"Saint Anthony of Padua".
Carved and polychrome wood.
Presents old restorations.
Measurements: 100 x 43 x 30 cm.
Wooden sculpture carved in round bulk representing St. Anthony of Padua with the Child Jesus in his arms. The Saint wears a Franciscan habit and holds the figure of the little Jesus. The Child, for his part, looks directly at the viewer with his hand in an attitude of blessing. St. Anthony of Padua is, after St. Francis of Assisi, the most popular of the Franciscan saints. He is represented as a beardless young man with a broad monastic tonsure, dressed in the brown habit of the Franciscans. One of his most frequent attributes is the bread in his hand or book, which identifies him as a sacred writer. Another distinctive iconographic feature is the branch of lily, an element taken from his panegyrist Bernardino de Siena. St. Anthony is usually presented with the Child Jesus, in allusion to an apparition he had in his cell. It became the most popular attribute of this saint from the 16th century onwards, being especially popular in the Baroque art of the Counter-Reformation. He was born in Lisbon in 1195 and only spent the last two years of his life in Padua. After studying at the convent of Santa Cruz in Coimbra, in 1220 he entered the Order of Friars Minor, where he changed his first name, Fernando, to Antonio. After teaching theology in Bologna, he traveled through southern and central France, preaching in Arles, Montpellier, Puy, Limoges and Bourges. In 1227 he participated in the general chapter of Assisi. In 1230 he was in charge of the transfer of the remains of St. Francis. He preached in Padua and died there at the age of 36 in 1231. He was canonized only a year after his death, in 1232. Until the end of the 15th century, the cult of St. Anthony remained located in Padua. From the following century on, he became, at first, the national saint of the Portuguese, who placed the churches they built abroad under his patronage, and then a universal saint.