Description
French school of the 17th century Saint Thecla surrounded by animals Oil on canvas, inscribed "S. TECLE . V.M." at the top 77,5 x 58 cm Saint Thecla is a saint who lived in Turkey in the first century, celebrated by both the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. The iconography of the painting remains rather mysterious, for while one is tempted to see in the lion and the bull the representations of the evangelists St. Mark and St. Luke, it is known that St. Thecla is reputed to have been defended by a lioness, at the time of her condemnation to death for having refused a magistrate of Antioch. In this episode the women of the audience would have put the wild beasts to sleep with their perfume. The stag can be seen as a symbol of God's love. The Middle Ages believed that the stag was the enemy born of the serpent, and made the stag the symbol of Christ and the serpent the symbol of evil. (Restorations of use)
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French school of the 17th century Saint Thecla surrounded by animals Oil on canvas, inscribed "S. TECLE . V.M." at the top 77,5 x 58 cm Saint Thecla is a saint who lived in Turkey in the first century, celebrated by both the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. The iconography of the painting remains rather mysterious, for while one is tempted to see in the lion and the bull the representations of the evangelists St. Mark and St. Luke, it is known that St. Thecla is reputed to have been defended by a lioness, at the time of her condemnation to death for having refused a magistrate of Antioch. In this episode the women of the audience would have put the wild beasts to sleep with their perfume. The stag can be seen as a symbol of God's love. The Middle Ages believed that the stag was the enemy born of the serpent, and made the stag the symbol of Christ and the serpent the symbol of evil. (Restorations of use)
