Apparition of the Infant Jesus to Saint Anthony of Padua and Saint Paschal Baylon Adoring the Blesse [...]
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Apparition of the Infant Jesus to Saint Anthony of Padua and Saint Paschal Baylon Adoring the Blessed Sacrament are two small works by the Valencian artist Mariano Salvador Maella (1739-1819), who was the chief court painter to King Charles IV and director of painting at the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Although obviously in the Academic style, it retains traces of Rococo sensibility. These are two studies for altar paintings painted in 1785-1787 featuring Franciscan iconography. They express a friendly, devout and popular religious practice, as was taught by the Franciscans, and they include the particular flourishes characteristic of Maella, with bursts of glory and angels vaguely outlined with light brushstrokes and impasto, and golden lighting.