4) 1774 - Ludovico Svirech - San Vito and the Saints Modesto and Crescenzio (San Giorgio)
MOTHER CHURCH OF SAN GIORGIO MARTIRE Ragusa Ibla
1774 – Ludovico Svirech – Saint Vitus and Saints Modestus and Crescentius
In 1774 Ludovico Svirech was commissioned for the canvas of San Vito and Saints Modesto and Crescenzio (work signed Pin. Scirech 1774). In the work (oil on canvas, 307 by 216 centimetres) the saint, who lived under Diocletian, had suffered martyrdom by will of the Emperor by immersion in a tub of pitch. In the canvas he is represented on the right; he holds the cross on his left and raises his right towards the sky. On the left, Saint Crescenzia is holding an open book in her hand which reads “Nolite timere qui occidunt corpus sed potius'; She is flanked by Saint Modesto who, standing upright, points to the martyr. Above the saints, among clouds, cherubs, seraphim and an angel holding the crown of martyrdom on the saint's head.
Below are two dogs and a lion licking the martyr's foot. Svirech, from Catania "ob ductione uxoris", is present in the Iblean area in Scicli where in 1761 he signed the canvas with Madonna and Saints in the church of Santa Teresa, donated by Don Guglielmo Zisa and the canvas with the Meeting of three Maries and Saint Elizabeth in the church of Santa Maria del Gesù. It is also present in Mineo, Carlentini, Valverde.
Citti Siracusano had linked Svirech and Lo Monaco, although his place of work was not known.
Today we know of its presence in Catania and south-eastern Sicily. A work that fits into the context of late Baroque classicism.
