i Find out more about the project

Saint Ambrose, Father of the Church

Author, school, workshop
Georg Zeller
Style
Early Baroque
Date
1662–1665
Material and technique
Oak wood; carving techniques
Size
Height 120 cm
Location
The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Wroclaw, Poland
Description
Saint: stands in slight contrapposto (on right leg), facing viewer. On the forearm of his right hand he holds horizontally a book on which a beehive stands. His left hand is slightly raised holding a pastoral in it. On his hands he is wearing gloves.

He has a slim, senile face with a prominent nose with distended wings; wide, large eyes under eyebrows rising high towards the temples; a wrinkle-covered forehead; a moustache and a chin split at the end; neck-length hair. On his head is a richly decorated bishop's mitre.

Dressed in a long sundress falling over his boots, over it a knee-length almshouse, heavily creased, tied at the waist and trimmed at the bottom with a lambrequin band. His shoulders and back are covered by a cape fastened at the chest with a decorative buckle. From under the cape, ribbons of a stole fall down the sides of the shoe.