Agostino Litterini (1642-1730)
St. Anne with St. Joseph and St. Anthony of Padua
Church of Sant'Alvise, Venice, Italy
The artist gives both the male saints lilies as attributes. St. Joseph's left hand holds his staff, with a lily flower at the top (seen behind his head). St. Anthony lovingly cradles a lily stalk in his arms, the way he is usually pictured holding the Christ Child
(example). Two other pictures from this era in Venice also seem to reflect a sense of metaphorical equivalence between the child and the lilies. In Querena's
St. Joseph with the Christ Child and Saints, Joseph hands the Christ Child to Anthony. And in
another painting
it is a lily stalk that he hands him.
Among the many details that have me stumped are the man in the portrait above Anne, the open book, and the red and green pennants.
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Photographed at the church by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.