Money from recent deaccessioning of 50 works of art by Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts bought the Academy a big painting that will beef up its collection of contemporary American art. The purchase: PAFA grad and Academy instructor Vincent Desiderio’s “Pantocrator,” (image) an oil on linen triptych from 2002. The museum paid $135,000 for the 8-ft. tall, 17-ft. wide, “Pantocrator,” said PAFA’s Shelley McCaffrey. The title, from the Greek, meaning “ruler of all”, refers to a category of iconic paintings with the Christ figure in the middle. Don’t look for the painting to show up in the flesh for a while. It’s scheduled to appear when PAFA’s new gallery for contemporary art in the Samuel Hamilton Building opens in 2005.
