Antonio Leoni
Düsseldorf, ca 1700/1710
Ivory
39,5 x 25,7 x 5,3 cm
Inv.-Nr. R 4565
From the collections of the Electors Palatine in Düsseldorf
Johann Wilhelm, the Elector Palatine, who was a noted connoisseur of ivories, employed two specialists in the field, Antonio Leoni and Ignaz Elhafen, at his court. Among Leoni's most brilliant works are these bustling reliefs which are also on an unusually large scale for ivories and distinguished by the painterly handling of the material. One of these is 'The conversion of St Paul'; the relief bears the signature Antonius Leoni[us] Venetus F[ecit], the only evidence that the artist was a Venetian.