FINDART

Sign inSign up

The Healing of the Cripple at the Pool of Bethesda

1731 · Spedale di Santa Maria della Scala, Siena

religious

There was an increasing tendency in the seventeenth century to transform church spaces into stages for heavenly apparitions and visions. One of the most intriguing examples of painterly transformation of a choir into an exedra or stage set is Sebastiano Conca's Healing of the Cripple at the Pool of Bethesda in the choir apse of church of the venerable Spedale di Santa Maria della Scala in Siena. The scene was selected to provide hope to the infirm.

Loading map…
The Healing of the Cripple at the Pool of Bethesda

About the Artist

Sebastiano Conca

1680 – 1764

Italian painter and draughtsman. He was one of the most successful painters working in Rome in the first half of the 18th century and was celebrated throughout Europe. He painted altarpieces and frescoes, creating an accomplished style that mediates between the grandeur of the late Baroque and the academic manner of Carlo Maratti. His smaller easel paintings</ay were eagerly sought after by collectors throughout Europe. Conca was also an able draughtsman, working in a free and fluent style.

View all works →