Saint Gaudioso

This painting is part of Romanino’s high altarpiece for S. Alessandro in Brescia. It depicts Saint Gaudioso and is situated to the left of the central panel of the Nativity, above the panel of Saint Alexander.Saint Gaudioso had a particular relevance to Brescia and the church of S. Alessandro, which explains his inclusion in the altarpiece. He was a fifth-century bishop of Brescia. He died in about 445 but his bones were rediscovered in a stone chest in 1454, when the church of S. Alessandro was under construction. They were conserved as a relic in one of the altars.Here Gaudioso wears his bishop’s mitre and a large oval morse fastens the jewelled border of his cope. The figures on the morse probably represent the two persons of the Trinity – God the Father and Christ. Gaudioso holds a bishop’s crosier with a curling end resembling a vine, symbolising his role as a shepherd of Christian souls. He does not look at the book he holds in his left hand but gazes thoughtfully into the distance. The face of Saint Gaudioso may be a portrait of a distinguished churchman of Romanino’s own day.There is little space around Gaudioso – both of his elbows and the top of his mitre are not shown so that his figure fills almost the entire image. It was important that panels such as this, which would have been displayed high up, had a simple powerful composition that could be seen clearly by worshippers below.