Saint Dominic

Crivelli's Saint Dominic from 1472 depicts the founder of the Dominican Order who established the preaching friars as one of the medieval church's primary instruments of education and theological defense. Dominic, shown with his attribute of a lily and often with a star on his forehead (a vision recorded at his birth), was a subject of particular importance for Dominican patrons commissioning altarpieces and chapel decorations. Crivelli's Saint Dominic reflects his characteristic approach to the standing saint: the figure isolated against a flat gold background, every detail of habit, attribute, and facial expression rendered with the precision of a jeweler working in paint.

Crivelli renders the Dominican habit with sharp precision, the black and white fabric creating bold tonal contrasts against the gold ground. The saint's face is modeled with intense, ascetic features and penetrating expression. The tempera technique achieves the hard-edged clarity and jewel-like precision that characterize all of Crivelli's panel paintings.