Saint Thomas Aquinas, Fountain of Wisdom

This 17th century painting testifies to the fervor of Catholics towards Saint Thomas Aquinas. This Dominican friar studied then taught theology at the University of Paris in the middle of the 12th century. His writings, written in Paris, are contemporaneous with the opening of Notre-Dame. Antoine Nicolas painted this work in 1648. The Dominican community of Saint-Maur-des-Fossés kept the painting before giving it to the Dominican convent of the Annunciation in the Saint-Honoré in Paris around 1950. The convent donated it to Notre-Dame de Paris to commemorate the 700th anniversary of the death of Saint Thomas Aquinas.