A Miracle of Saint Francis of Paola

Sebastiano Ricci

National Gallery of Art

This is a tall, vertical painting. In the center, a woman in a pink-and-yellow gown sits on the ground, holding a limp child in her arms. She faces the left and is looking upward at a man in a brown robe who faces her and extends one arm towards the child, placing his finger on its forehead. Surrounding this group, many other people look at them with expressions of shock or amazement, leaning forward with their mouths open and hands raised. All the people in the painting have pale skin, although the child and another man in the bottom right corner have a greenish sheen to their skin. In the sky above this group, cherubs and angels fly, surrounded by clouds and looking down on the scene below. The sky is blue, with pink clouds and green trees, and a tall gray column on the left side.