Constantine the Great Beholds the Sign of the Cross
After Gianlorenzo Bernini

Gallery 43,
European Baroque Art

    Related Objects in the Ashmolean Museum:

The first two works are in the same gallery as the Object of the Month and they share the same subject matter -- visions. In both these cases, however, the vision is central to the work rather than being out of the picture.
   

1. Federico Barocci, St Dominic Receiving the Rosary (right)
Gallery 43

The scene, which depicts St Dominic below receiving the rosary from the Virgin above, creates a sense of illusionistic space and embraces the essential Baroque element of fluid movement, as emphasised by the billowing robes of the angels.

Indeed Barocci, who worked at the end of the 16th century, was one of the earliest proponents of the Baroque style.

   


2. Domenichino, The Vision of St Jerome
Gallery 43 (left from the Barocci)

St Jerome’s vision was of an angel pointing heavenwards. He was a scholar and a hermit and is shown here in the wilderness beating his breast with a stone. He is accompanied by the lion who became his devoted companion after he pulled a thorn from its paw.

    3. Altobello Melone, St Helena (right)
Renaissance Gallery, Gallery 39 (open from 6th October)

Part of a large and complex altarpiece, this panel depicts the Christian saint and mother of Constantine the Great, St Helena.

After Christianity became officially tolerated in the Roman Empire under Constantine, Helena devoted her life to work in the name of Christianity.

She is always depicted carrying the cross that she discovered on Mount Golgotha during her pilgrimage to Jerusalem.