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Look up at the bishop as if from below, then follow his upturned eyes and the quill pen resting on the open book.
Goya painted Saint Ambrose, the bishop of Milan who settled disputes over Christian teaching, in a series of four early church leaders with Jerome, Augustine and Gregory. The low viewpoint and large size suggest the canvas hung high on a wall in a religious house, though its first location is unknown. The Cleveland Museum of Art links the series to Spanish reformers who, after the Jesuits were expelled, looked back to the early Church.
oil on canvas · Framed: 148.7 x 225.3 x 10.3 cm · Cleveland Museum of Art · Neoclassicism
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Details and source
- Museum title
- Saint Ambrose
- Artist
- Francisco de Goya (Spanish, 1746–1828)
- Date
- c. 1796–99
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- Framed: 148.7 x 225.3 x 10.3 cm (58 9/16 x 88 11/16 x 4 1/16 in.); Unframed: 190 x 113 cm (74 13/16 x 44 1/2 in.)
- Credit line
- Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
- Image license
- CC0 1.0 · Public domain
- Museum record
- Cleveland Museum of Art
Galler’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.