A fresco titled "Saint Christopher and the Infant Christ," by Domenico Ghirlandaio, painted 1469 to 1494, showing the giant Christopher carrying the Christ child across a river, the legend from which his name, meaning Christ-bearer, derives. Held today by the Metropolitan Museum of Art under accession 80.3.674, European Paintings department, Gift of Cornelius Vanderbilt, 1880.
Facts
Subject Matter
Depicted SubjectThe Golden Legend tells that the child grew impossibly heavy partway across the river, so heavy that Christopher feared they would both drown, and only after reaching the far bank did the child explain that he had been carrying the weight of the whole world and its maker. In 1969 the saint was removed from the Roman Catholic Church's universal calendar of obligatory feast days amid scholarly doubt about his historicity, though popular devotion, especially as patron of travelers, continued regardless. 1 Physical Form
MediumFresco by Domenico Ghirlandaio, 1469 to 1494, Metropolitan Museum of Art 80.3.674 1 Medium (class) Connections
Belongs to Tradition
Source Saint Christopher and the Infant Christ, accession 80.3.674 (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Depicts
The Met's own title for this fresco names the subject outright, "Saint Christopher and the Infant Christ," and the museum's own Getty AAT-linked tag confirms Saint Christopher, a direct identification rather than a bare thematic tag.
Source Saint Christopher and the Infant Christ, accession 80.3.674 (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
In the Other Atlases
Authored By
Also in Arts and Music Atlas: the author of this subject.
Sources
1. Saint Christopher and the Infant Christ, accession 80.3.674 (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Metropolitan Museum of Art- accession 80.3.674
catalogue record, medium/object-type description
A fresco titled "Saint Christopher and the Infant Christ," by Domenico Ghirlandaio, painted 1469 to 1494, showing the giant Christopher carrying the Christ child across a river, the legend from which his name, meaning Christ-bearer, derives.
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