St. Thomas Aquinas Presenting His Work to the Crucified Christ 1588 - 1598

Santi di Tito created this pen and brown ink drawing, titled "St. Thomas Aquinas Presenting His Work to the Crucified Christ," in the late 16th century. The sketch depicts Saint Thomas Aquinas kneeling, offering his writings to Christ on the cross, surrounded by onlookers. Made during the Counter-Reformation, it reflects a period when the Catholic Church sought to reaffirm its authority through art and hagiography. Santi di Tito captures the spiritual intensity of the era, where religious figures were presented as models of piety and devotion, and emphasizes the importance of religious scholarship and submission to divine authority. Aquinas is idealized as the ultimate intellectual, whose work is divinely sanctioned. The emotional and dynamic figures convey a sense of awe and reverence. The drawing is not just a representation of religious devotion, but also a cultural artifact reflecting the complex interplay of faith, intellect, and power in post-Renaissance Italy.