San Luigi Gonzaga
St. Louis Gonzaga
18th century, oil on canvas.
The canvas, located in the left aisle of the Soccorso church, bears neither the date nor the signature. It may have been painted in the second half of the 18th century, given the prevalence of darker tones compared to Mauro’s canvases.
It depicts Louis according to the recurring iconography that sees him as young, good-looking, pale and brown of hair, wearing the typical Jesuit robe and white lace. The saint is kneeling, in profile, and receives from an angel the lily, his attribute linked to the choice of chastity he made at the age of twelve. In the centre, the Madonna casts a sweet and protective glance at him with her puffy cloak spreading out almost to cover his head. The predominantly sombre tones of the background are counterpointed by the foreground in which the pastel tones of Mary’s robe and mantle alternate with the whiteness of the saint’s tunic that illuminates the scene. The crown on the ground in the foreground may allude to the renunciation that Luigi made as first-born son of the Gonzaga marquisate in favour of his brother.
Luigi Gonzaga was born in Castiglione delle Stiviere in 1568, son of the marquis Ferrante Gonzaga; in 1585, at the age of seventeen, he became a novice of the Society of Jesus in Rome where he dedicated himself to the care of the poor. He died in Rome in 1591 of the plague, having helped a sick person. He was buried in the church of St Ignatius in Rome. He was canonised in 1726 by Pope Benedict XIII.
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