St. George

Toschi, Paolo · n.d.

Medium

Oil on canvas

Currently held

Art Institute of Chicago

Movement

Neoclassicism

This depiction of St. George captures the saint in the manner of the northern Italian tradition — resolute, dignified, and rooted in the devotional art of the Parma school. Paolo Toschi was one of the most respected figures in early nineteenth-century Italian art, celebrated primarily as an engraver of exceptional refinement who trained in Parma and later in Paris under Luigi Calamatta's circle. He spent much of his career as director of the Parma Academy of Fine Arts, where he championed the legacy of Correggio above all others. His oil works, rarer than his prints, carry the same meticulous attention to surface and tone that made his engravings famous across Europe. Toschi's deep engagement with Correggio — who himself painted a celebrated altarpiece featuring St. George for the church of San Pietro Martire in Modena — likely shaped how he approached this subject, treating the warrior-saint less as a martial figure than as a symbol of spiritual conviction. The hand-painted oil reproduction renders every nuance of Toschi's handling with care: the warmth of the palette, the subtle modelling of light across form, and the quiet gravity that distinguishes his work from more theatrical interpretations of the same subject.