"Italian Ex-voto – Painting On Wood – Dated 1794"
Italian ex-voto dated 1794, painted in oil on wood panel. The work illustrates a dramatic episode: a man, swept away by the waters, stands on a cart transformed into a boat, pulled by two oxen. Caught in the turmoil of a raging river, he raises his eyes to the sky and invokes the help of a holy bishop, represented in the upper left part of the composition, blessing the scene with a protective gesture. In the lower left corner appear damned, half-sunken figures, symbolizing human fragility and the border between life and perdition. Ex-votos (ex voto suscepto, "according to the vow made") are pictorial offerings of gratitude following a miraculous event.
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