Van Dyck, Anthony (1599-1641)
Saint Rosalie Interceding for the Plague-stricken of Palermo
1624
Oil on canvas, 99.7 x 73.7 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Van Dyck was in Palermo, Sicily, when a plague broke out and the city was quarantined. In their despair, residents prayed to the city’s twelfth-century patroness, Saint Rosalie, whose long-lost remains were rediscovered in the midst of the epidemic. Images of Saint Rosalie were in great demand; this one was painted by Van Dyck on top of a striking self-portrait that he had sketched on the canvas. Acquired in 1871, this was one of the first significant European paintings to enter The Met’s collection. (MET)