Saint Philip Neri (1515–1595)

The gentle face of Saint Philip Neri rises from a dark background, his eyes lifted heavenward in quiet rapture. Carlo Dolci was the most fastidious painter of seventeenth-century Florence, known for devotional images of almost enamel-like finish, and this half-length portrait shows the saint as the city remembered him — a warm, humorous priest who filled Rome with music and good cheer. The delicate handling of the pale skin and the soft glow on the face make holiness feel intimate.