Sainte Antoine - Burgundy, Early 16th Century

This Tonnerre stone sculpture of Saint Anthony illustrates with finesse the stylistic transition between the Gothic tradition and the first impulses of the Renaissance in early 16th-century Burgundy. The saint, identifiable by his monastic habit and characteristic bonnet, is captured in a meditative attitude of rare emotional intensity. Inherited from the art of the great Burgundian 15th-century ymagicians, this is evident in the expressive treatment of Anthony's features, notably his wrinkled forehead, lowered eyelids and half-open mouth.
The "wet" drape of his tunic, with its fluid, naturalistic folds, closely follows the volume of his body. The curvature of our subject's leg is sensitively revealed, heralding the plastic preoccupations of the Renaissance, just like Saint Anthony by Saint-Romain, Guerfand or Rougemont.