St. Roch

An exhausted, haggard Saint Roch slumps before a wall in this small, moving image by Tiepolo. Saint Roch was a wealthy Frenchman who tended victims of the plague in Italy, and eventually fell victim to the disease. The dog, shown in the lower right, cured him by bringing him bread and licking his wounds. Tiepolo accentuates the saint’s suffering by pushing the figure toward the front of the picture. Unable even to hold up his head, he gazes out through barely open eyes, a crust of bread held limply in his fingers. Tiepolo painted a series of images of Saint Roch, all about this size, for members of the confraternity of the church of San Rocco in Venice.