St. Roch of Montpellier - (Apulia)

Archconfraternity  SS. Rosary

Foundation year: 1629

City: Bitonto (BA)

Archdiocese: Bari-Bitonto

Artistic artefact (canvas, fresco, statue, etc.): Processional statue

Title: Saint Roch of Montpellier

Dimensions: 160 cm

Year of execution: Year of execution first half of the 19th century.

Author (with year of birth and death): F rancesco Citarelli (1790-1871) attributed

Brief description of the work and of the author profile: The polychrome wood sculpture depicting San Rocco is the work of the Neapolitan sculptor Francesco Citarelli. The work is attributable to the first half of the nineteenth century. The saint is portrayed according to his traditional iconography: in pilgrim's clothes, with his right hand pointing to the plague on his left leg and the dog with bread in his mouth. Citarelli is linked to the iconography of the Neapolitan eighteenth-century tradition (mindful of the youthful apprenticeship with the sculptor Francesco Verzella), innovating it through the elegance of the neoclassical academic taste. His talent was manifested, for example, in the creation of trophies of arms and allegories for the grand staircase of the Royal Palace of Naples, in the sculpture on the main facade of the San Carlo Theater depicting the Fame with the Bourbon genius protector of music and poetry, as well as in the decorations of the Throne Room of the Royal Palace of Caserta. But his authentic artistic vein was fully realized in the devotional works (thanks above all to the rich patronage of the Religious Orders), of which the statue of San Rocco represents one of the highest examples.