Giovan Battista Perini
St. Thomas Aquinas

1693
Church of Santa Maria Novella, Florence, Italy

The Dominican habit and the sunburst on his breast identify the saint as Thomas Aquinas. The monstrance in his right hand with the Eucharistic host also appears in some of his portraits, a reference to his defence of the doctrine of transubstantiation. The belief that in the Eucharist the "substance" of the bread and wine becomes the body and blood of Christ while the "accidents" (what one sees, tastes, etc.) remain the same. The book refers to his many theological writings. The meaning of the object on which he resets his left foot is not clear.

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Photographed at the site by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.