Full title | Saint Alexander |
---|---|
Artist | Girolamo Romanino |
Artist dates | about 1484 - about 1560 |
Group | High Altarpiece, S. Alessandro, Brescia |
Date made | about 1524 |
Medium and support | Oil on wood |
Dimensions | 159.5 x 64.2 cm |
Acquisition credit | Bought, 1857 |
Inventory number | NG297.2 |
Location | Not on display |
Collection | Main Collection |
This painting is part of Romanino’s high altarpiece for S. Alessandro in Brescia. It is situated beside the main panel of the Nativity.
Saint Alexander was patron saint of Brescia and the church was dedicated to him. His position on the holy family’s right-hand side puts him in the place of honour, and he has a double halo. He was a local martyr, beheaded in Bergamo in about 303. He was said to have been a Roman soldier who was killed for refusing to renounce his Christian faith. He is often depicted as a youthful knight holding a banner marked with a fleur-de-lis in reference to the lilies that sprang up where his blood was spilled.
The heroic and richly coloured figure of Saint Alexander expresses the strongly Venetian character of Romanino’s work. The jacket Alexander wears over his armour would originally have been half yellow and half blue but the blue pigment smalt has faded to grey.
This painting is part of Romanino’s high altarpiece for S. Alessandro in Brescia, and is situated beside the main panel of the Nativity. Saint Alexander was included because he was patron saint of Brescia and the church was dedicated to him. He is given special prominence on the holy family’s right-hand side and has a double halo.
Alexander was a local martyr, beheaded in Bergamo in about 303. He was said to have been a Roman soldier in the Theban legion who was killed for refusing to renounce his Christian faith. He is reported to have survived the decimation of the Theban legion (the killing of every tenth man) and to have escaped to Milan. He was condemned to be beheaded but his executioner’s arms went stiff. Alexander escaped to Bergamo where he became a preacher and converted many people in the city.
He was captured again and finally decapitated on 26 August 303 on the spot where the church of S. Alessandro is now built. Saint Alexander is often depicted as a youthful knight holding a banner marked with a fleur-de-lis in reference to the lilies that sprang up where his blood was spilled. In the central panel of Romanino’s altarpiece, the Virgin Mary wears a mantle embroidered with golden fleur-de-lis – Saint Alexander’s symbol.
The jacket Alexander wears over his armour would originally have been half yellow and half blue but the blue pigment smalt has faded to grey. Parti-colour (clothes that were cut from different coloured cloths) such as this was associated with livery, and other examples can be found in Brescian painting of this date. The armour is characteristic of the time and can be dated not earlier than the 1520s. It is very close in style to that worn by Saint Demetrius in Ortolano’s altarpiece, Saints Sebastian, Roch and Demetrius, of about 1520.
The heroic and richly coloured figure of Saint Alexander expresses the strongly Venetian character of Romanino’s work.
Download a low-resolution copy of this image for personal use.
License and download a high-resolution image for reproductions up to A3 size from the National Gallery Picture Library.
License imageThis image is licensed for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons agreement.
Examples of non-commercial use are:
- Research, private study, or for internal circulation within an educational organisation (such as a school, college or university)
- Non-profit publications, personal websites, blogs, and social media
The image file is 800 pixels on the longest side.
As a charity, we depend upon the generosity of individuals to ensure the collection continues to engage and inspire. Help keep us free by making a donation today.
You must agree to the Creative Commons terms and conditions to download this image.
High Altarpiece, S. Alessandro, Brescia
Romanino made this painting for the high altar of Sant' Alessandro in Brescia. It may have been commissioned by the Confraternity of Corpus Christi – a lay brotherhood which venerated the body of Christ – who were responsible for the high altar.
The central panel shows the Nativity, with Mary and Joseph kneeling before the infant Christ. On either side, panels depict Saint Alexander (lower left) and Saint Jerome (lower right). Above them are Saint Gaudioso (upper left) and Saint Filippo Benizzi (upper right.)
The painting originally had a crowning panel of the dead Saviour supported by the Virgin and Saint John. It also had large canvas shutters to protect it – The Annunciation was painted on the outside of the shutters, and on the inside was The Adoration of the Magi. The elaborate frame of the altarpiece, made by the woodcarver Stefano Lamberti, which would have formed a fundamental part of it, is now missing.
Romanino made this painting for the high altar of S. Alessandro in Brescia, which served as a parish church although it was attached to a Servite convent. It may have been commissioned by the Confraternity of Corpus Christi – a lay brotherhood which venerated the body of Christ – who were then responsible for the high altar. On the altar was a wooden tabernacle which must have been directly below Christ in the painting. The Eucharist (the bread and wine believed by Catholics to transform into the body and blood of Christ) would have been kept in the tabernacle.
There was almost always more than one saint or mystery to be venerated in a high altarpiece, and this type of multi-panel painting, known as a polyptych, was well suited to the purpose. However by the 1520s, when this picture was painted, ‘unified’ altarpieces with all the figures on a single panel or canvas were more common in the artistic centres of Florence and Venice, and this format was a little old-fashioned. However it was still popular in the provinces – one of the other two high altarpieces made by Romanino for Brescia was a polyptych.
The central panel shows the Nativity, with Mary and Joseph kneeling before the infant Christ. The presence of the angels with a scroll suggests the annunciation of Christ’s birth to the shepherds, who appear in the landscape to the right. On either side, panels depict Saint Alexander (lower left) and paintings:ng297_3|[] (lower right). Above them are Saint Gaudioso (upper left) and Saint Filippo Benizzi (upper right). Romanino blends and layers his long expressive brushstrokes in the clouds and landscape to create a very distinctive, painterly style, which brings the surface of his canvas alive with movement.
The painting originally had a crowning panel, which was described in 1700 as depicting three half-length figures of ‘the dead Saviour supported by the Virgin and Saint John.’ It is very likely to be the panel by Romanino of that subject, which was photographed in a private collection in Florence but is now untraced. The altarpiece also originally had large canvas shutters to protect it – The Annunciation was painted in glue size on the outside of the shutters, and on the inside was The Adoration of the Magi. These may be the two damaged glue size paintings of these subjects by Romanino now in SS. Nazaro and Celso in Brescia.
The altarpiece was probably completed in 1525. The main panel must have been painted at least in part by 1524 as Romanino’s associate Callisto Piazza painted a polyptych showing the Nativity with Saints (private collection) which was influenced by it and dated to that year.
The frame, which would have formed a fundamental part of this altarpiece, is now missing. It was usual at the time for the frame to be commissioned to the patron’s specifications before the painting. The work on the frame for Romanino’s altarpiece was begun by the woodcarver Stefano Lamberti almost a decade before the painting. Lamberti was one of the most celebrated woodcarvers of his day and was almost certainly a more celebrated artist than Romanino. Lamberti’s elaborate altarpiece frames have freestanding columns with every surface carved with brittle, pierced, applied ornament of fantastic variety, involving grotesques, tendrils, trophies and geometric tracery. The frame design for this altarpiece is unknown, but it is likely that the central panel of the Nativity was displayed lower than the flanking panels so that the horizon continued across all three paintings.





More paintings by Girolamo Romanino





