St Anthony the Abbott – A Late Medieval Sculpture

Also known as St Anthony the great, this beautifully detailed figure is carved in limewood, with applied polychrome decoration, showing the saint with a kind, friendly face, dressed in a monk’s habit, holding an open book in his left hand. In his right hand rests a long staff. 

At St Anthony’s foot is a carved pig, an animal he is frequently depicted with – for numerous reasons – St Anthony is the patron saint of swineherds, also domestic animals, and livestock. 

Another explanation for the presence of a pig is during the middle ages the hospitallers of St Anthony (the Antonine monks) raised pigs and used the lard to treat a painful skin and nervous disorder known as “St Anthony’s fire”. 

A wonderful and charismatic polychrome sculpture of a saint, with an interesting history.

Probably French, Valley of the Upper Rhine, circa 1500.

Height 21 inches

Ref 3077