Painting Of Saint Dominic With Flaming Heart And Book Appraisal

Painting of Saint Dominic with Flaming Heart and Book

This item is an oil painting depicting Saint Dominic. The saint is rendered in a three-quarter length pose, facing slightly towards the viewer with a serene yet earnest expression. He wears the traditional habit of the Dominican order, a black cappa over a white tunic, with a distinctive white scapular visible beneath the black robe. A golden halo encircles his head, above which a flaming heart, a common attribute of Saint Dominic, is depicted. His right hand is raised, pointing upwards, while his left hand holds an open book, likely representing the Gospels or his writings, and a cluster of white lilies, symbolizing purity, and knowledge. The background is dark and moody, featuring muted blues and greys suggesting a cloudy or stormy sky, with faint suggestions of a landscape or architectural element in the lower left. The overall impression is one of spiritual devotion and contemplation. The painting exhibits signs of age and wear, including significant darkening of the varnish, rendering some details difficult to discern, particularly in the lower half and background. There are visible craquelure patterns across the surface, indicative of an older oil painting, and some areas appear to have minor losses or abrasions to the paint layer. The canvas is housed in a carved wooden frame with a scalloped inner edge and an aged, possibly gilded or gessoed, finish that shows wear to the surface exposing the underlying wood in places. The style suggests an Old Master period influence, possibly from the Baroque or Post-Baroque era, likely 17th or 18th century. The craftsmanship, while not hyper-realistic, effectively conveys emotion and symbolic meaning, typical of religious art from this period.