Corrado Giaquinto Molfetta 1703 - 1766 Naples

This small copper would appear to represent St. Bernard, the founder of the Cistercian order.  He is wearing the white habit of the order (at least so it would seem, to judge through the dirty varnish) and is shown with a quill and book (a reference to his many influential writings) and the crozier of an abbot just visible in the shadows in the background to the left.

Although not his favored medium, Giaquinto painted a few  small devotional paintings on copper, which suited his highly keyed palette and gem-like application of paint.  A Christ as the Good Pastor was sold at Sotheby's Madrid (Sale: October 29, 1991, lot 3), as well as a Baptism of Christ at Sotheby's, London (Sale: December 7, 1994, lot 26).  The physiognomy of the figure is reminiscent of a number of older male saints produced by the artist, and approaches in style those also painted by Sebastiano Conca, with whom the artist worked in Rome.  It seems likely to date to that period of Giaquinto's career, in the 1740s, that the present work would appear to date.