Italian school (XVIII) - Epigrafe devozionale






Specialised in 17th century Old Master paintings and drawings with auction house experience.
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Epigrafe devozionale, an 18th‑century Italian oil painting (1700), 103 × 38 cm, unsigned, sold with frame.
Description from the seller
Ancient painting
Devotional inscription on canvas
Italian School of the eighteenth century
“Miseremini mei, miseremini mei, saltem vos amici mei”
Description
The work presents itself as a large inscription painted on canvas, with a black background and a linear gold frame delimiting the writing field. The text, in elegant gold capitals, reads:
MISEREMINI
MEI, MISEREMINI MEI
SALTEM VOS AMICI MEI
In the lower right corner appears the abbreviated quotation “Job. 19,” a reference to the Book of Job.
The chromatic choice – gold on black – recalls the tradition of funerary epigraphs and convent inscriptions, imparting solemnity and a strong visual impact. The letters, well spaced and regular, show a seventeenth-century-inspired calligraphy, drawn from Roman stone-carving capitals but interpreted with painterly softness.
⸻
Text and meaning
The phrase comes from the Book of Job (19:21) in the Latin Vulgate:
“Miseremini mei, miseremini mei, saltem vos amici mei”
“Pity me, pity me, at least you, my friends.”
It is the moving plea of Job, a righteous man struck by suffering, who turns to his friends asking for compassion.
In the devotional context of the eighteenth century, this verse took on a double meaning:
• An invitation to Christian mercy
• A meditation on pain and human fragility
• A call to solidarity among confreres or members of a religious community
Dimensions: 103 x 38 cm
* condition report: work in good conservation condition with various signs of time and previous restorations (at the back visible repair)
Given the importance of the work it will be shipped only with secure packaging and insured shipping for the estimated value / shipping in a wooden crate
Seller's Story
Ancient painting
Devotional inscription on canvas
Italian School of the eighteenth century
“Miseremini mei, miseremini mei, saltem vos amici mei”
Description
The work presents itself as a large inscription painted on canvas, with a black background and a linear gold frame delimiting the writing field. The text, in elegant gold capitals, reads:
MISEREMINI
MEI, MISEREMINI MEI
SALTEM VOS AMICI MEI
In the lower right corner appears the abbreviated quotation “Job. 19,” a reference to the Book of Job.
The chromatic choice – gold on black – recalls the tradition of funerary epigraphs and convent inscriptions, imparting solemnity and a strong visual impact. The letters, well spaced and regular, show a seventeenth-century-inspired calligraphy, drawn from Roman stone-carving capitals but interpreted with painterly softness.
⸻
Text and meaning
The phrase comes from the Book of Job (19:21) in the Latin Vulgate:
“Miseremini mei, miseremini mei, saltem vos amici mei”
“Pity me, pity me, at least you, my friends.”
It is the moving plea of Job, a righteous man struck by suffering, who turns to his friends asking for compassion.
In the devotional context of the eighteenth century, this verse took on a double meaning:
• An invitation to Christian mercy
• A meditation on pain and human fragility
• A call to solidarity among confreres or members of a religious community
Dimensions: 103 x 38 cm
* condition report: work in good conservation condition with various signs of time and previous restorations (at the back visible repair)
Given the importance of the work it will be shipped only with secure packaging and insured shipping for the estimated value / shipping in a wooden crate
