Saint Helena

Italienische Malerei 1480–1495, c. 1495

A pale-skinned woman stands holding a cross in front of a deep landscape in this vertical painting. The woman’s body faces us but she tips her head to our right and looks off in that direction with light brown, wide-set, large eyes. She has a long, straight nose, pale pink lips, and a square jawline. Her thick blond hair is pulled back and curls fall alongside her face and fall down to her shoulders. She wears a gold crown and gold breastplate ornamented with pearls and gems. Her lapis-blue gown is slit along the long sleeves and puffs of white linen are pulled through the openings. A carnation-red robe drapes over one shoulder and across her hips. She is barefoot, and both hands brace the tall cross to her right, our left. A tall, spindly tree with only a few leaves in its sparce canopy stands just behind her to our right. She stands on a grassy hill, and a path leads back to a town. More grassy, tree-lined hills behind her rise to another town outlined against the pale blue sky. A few clouds trundle across the sky and more are streaked across the pink horizon, which comes about halfway up this composition.
Artist
Italienische Malerei 1480–1495
Date
c. 1495
Type
Painting
Medium
oil on panel
Dimensions
40.2 × 32.2 cm
Collection
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Licence
Public domain, CC0

Image description

A pale-skinned woman stands holding a cross in front of a deep landscape in this vertical painting. The woman’s body faces us but she tips her head to our right and looks off in that direction with light brown, wide-set, large eyes. She has a long, straight nose, pale pink lips, and a square jawline. Her thick blond hair is pulled back and curls fall alongside her face and fall down to her shoulders. She wears a gold crown and gold breastplate ornamented with pearls and gems. Her lapis-blue gown is slit along the long sleeves and puffs of white linen are pulled through the openings. A carnation-red robe drapes over one shoulder and across her hips. She is barefoot, and both hands brace the tall cross to her right, our left. A tall, spindly tree with only a few leaves in its sparce canopy stands just behind her to our right. She stands on a grassy hill, and a path leads back to a town. More grassy, tree-lined hills behind her rise to another town outlined against the pale blue sky. A few clouds trundle across the sky and more are streaked across the pink horizon, which comes about halfway up this composition.

Italienische Malerei 1480–1495