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Pope Gregory XVI Visiting the Church of San Benedetto at Subiaco

1843
Not on view
The magnificently frescoed monastery of San Benedetto, about thirty miles east of Rome at Subiaco, was built during the Middle Ages as a pilgrimage site. The presence of the reigning pontiff during a visit of 1834 imparts the gravity of contemporary history to this picturesque costume piece. He is shown emerging from the Sacro Speco, the cave venerated as the one in which Saint Benedict lived as a hermit about A.D. 500. Montessuy sought to establish his reputation with this, his first such masterwork, at the Paris Salon of 1844. There is no more complete expression of the penchant among Lyonnais artists for surface description than this painting.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Pope Gregory XVI Visiting the Church of San Benedetto at Subiaco
  • Artist: Jean-François Montessuy (French, Lyons 1804–1876 Lyons)
  • Date: 1843
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 49 1/4 x 55 3/8 in. (125.1 x 140.7 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: The Whitney Collection, Gift of Wheelock Whitney III, and Purchase, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles S. McVeigh, by exchange, 2003

  • Object Number: 2003.42.42
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

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