Saints Ludwig of Toulouse and Saint Antonio Abate

Antonio Marinoni's Saints Ludwig of Toulouse and Anthony Abbot, painted around 1510 and now at the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo, represents the devotional panel painting produced in Lombardy during the High Renaissance. Ludwig of Toulouse, the Franciscan bishop-saint who renounced a royal throne for a life of poverty, and Anthony Abbot, the Egyptian hermit and father of monasticism, represent two models of Christian renunciation. Marinoni was a Bergamese painter whose work shows the influence of Venetian colorism and the Lombard tradition of emotional intensity in sacred subjects. The Accademia Carrara in Bergamo holds one of the finest collections of northern Italian Renaissance painting.

The two saints are presented in a devotional pairing with clear individualization through attributes — episcopal regalia for Ludwig and the tau staff and bell for Anthony. Lombard influence appears in the warm, dense color and the attention to the weathered realism of Anthony's aged face.