Filippo Tarchiani
Saint Dominic in Penitence

17th century
Oil on canvas
Metropolitan Museum of Art, L.2010.12.2

St. Dominic is identified by one of his attributes, the star above his head. The hourglass behind him is a conventional reminder of the transience of this life.

According to the Golden Legend St. Dominic spent his nights in a church, whipping himself with a chain and "when he was weary and necessity of sleep constrained him, he rested him tofore an altar inclined, or had a stone under his head." Tarchiani substitutes a leather scourge for the chain and "inclines" a book rather than a stone at the altar step. These revisions align the painting more closely with other images of saints in penitence.

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Photographed at the site by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.