Saint Anthony - Burgundy, Early 16th Century

This Tonnerre stone sculpture of Saint Anthony subtly illustrates the stylistic transition between the Gothic tradition and the first impulses of the Renaissance in early 16th-century Burgundy. The saint, identifiable by his monastic habit and characteristic cap, is captured in a meditative attitude of rare emotional intensity. Inherited from the art of the great image-makers of 15th-century Burgundy, this latter is manifested in the expressive treatment of Anthony's features, notably in that of his furrowed brow, his lowered eyelids, and his half-open mouth. The "wet" drapery of his tunic, with its fluid, naturalistic folds, closely follows the volume of the body. It very sensitively reveals the curve of our subject's leg, already announcing, in the same way as the Saint Anthony of Saint-Romain, Guerfand, and Rougemont, the plastic preoccupations of the Renaissance.