NARRATOR:
This imposing holy man seems lost in contemplation. But tears are streaming from his eyes. We are witnessing a moment of religious ecstasy.
This painting, by the 17th-century Flemish master Peter Paul Rubens, was created at a time when the Catholic Church was rising to the challenge of the Protestant Reformation. One strategy to keep the faithful in the fold was to encourage artists to make religious experience more accessible through their paintings.
Here, the subject is Saint Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order. When this picture was painted, about 1616, he had only recently achieved sainthood. He is identified by the opening words in the book he holds: “To the Greater Glory of God”: the Latin motto of the Jesuits.
With his brush, Rubens carves out the strong illusion of the saint standing in space above us, communicating with a force on high. He is so close and so vivid, we sense the heavy stiffness of his brocade robe. Using bravado effects of foreshortening, Rubens makes Loyola’s hand… the edge of the book… and even the toe of his shoe, appear to reach out of the picture into our space, as if we were actual witnesses to this moment of epiphany.
The saint’s tears, by the way, are no invention. According to one of his followers, St. Ignatius considered himself “deprived of consolation” if he did not weep three times during Mass.
Saint Ignatius of Loyola
c. 1620-22
Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640)
On View
Among Rubens’ works devoted to religious subjects, the representation of saints plays an important role. Rubens created an artistic language fully adapted to the Counter-Reformation movement, which stressed the heroic, emotional and ascetic aspects of the saints’ lives. This depiction of St. Ignatius of Loyola was painted for the mother church of the Jesuit order in Rome, Il Gesù.
The founder of the Jesuits wears a brocaded chasuble and gazes ecstatically to the viewer’s right, where beams of heavenly light break through the clouds. His right hand is raised in a gesture of admonition; his left hand holds a copy of the Constitutions of the Society of Jesus, with a page open to their famous motto: “To the greater glory of God.” Ignatius, painted to be seen from below, is presented as a Christian hero, full of Baroque sentiment designed to strengthen worshippers in their belief and spur them to emulation.
Details
- Artist Name: Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640)
- Title: Saint Ignatius of Loyola
- Date: c. 1620-22
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 88 x 54-1/2 in. (223.5 x 138.4 cm)
- Credit Line: Norton Simon Art Foundation
- Accession Number: M.1975.03.P
- Copyright: © Norton Simon Art Foundation
Object Information
Il Gesu (Church of the Jesuits), Rome, until the late seventeenth century.
The Jesuit Church, Brussels (sale, Brussels, Lannoy, 12 May 1777, lot 2, sold to);
Donckers.
George Greville, 2nd Earl of Brooke and Warwick, by 1798.
By descent to Charles Guy Fulke Greville (1911-1984) 7th Earl of Warwick, Warwick Castle sale, (Sotheby's, London, 11 Dec. 1974, lot 36);
Norton Simon Art Foundation.
The Jesuit Church, Brussels (sale, Brussels, Lannoy, 12 May 1777, lot 2, sold to);
Donckers.
George Greville, 2nd Earl of Brooke and Warwick, by 1798.
By descent to Charles Guy Fulke Greville (1911-1984) 7th Earl of Warwick, Warwick Castle sale, (Sotheby's, London, 11 Dec. 1974, lot 36);
Norton Simon Art Foundation.
L'Art flamand dans les collections brittaniques et la Galerie National de Victoria
- Musée Communal Groeninge, 1956-08 to 1956-09
[on loan]
- Richmond, Virginia, Museum of Fine Arts, 1975-08-13 to 1976-01-15
Art Treasures of the United Kingdom
- Manchester, 1857-05-20 to 1857-10-17
Reinstallation of Galleries: Art History of the 17th and 18th Century Gains Fresh Dimension
- Norton Simon Museum, 1993-09-02 to 1995-08-13
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- Gentleman's Magazine, 1798, p. 836
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- Farington, Joseph, Diary of Joseph Farington, 1979, p. 1588
- Morse, John D., Old Master Paintings in North America, 1979, pp. 242, 370
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- Norton Simon Museum, Selected Paintings at the Norton Simon Museum, 1980, p. 47
- Scheelen, W., Konindlijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Jaarboek, 1986, pp. 153-172
- Buttery, David, Antique Collector, 1988, p. 42
- Masterpieces from the Norton Simon Museum, 1989, p. 40
- Jaffé, Michael, Catalogo Completo Rubens, 1989, p. 189, no. 203
- Liedtke, Walter, Flemish Paintings in America: A Survey of Early Netherlandish and Flemish Paintings in the Public Collections of North America, 1992, fig. 424 p. 364
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- Roethlisberger, Marcel and M. J. Bok, Abraham Bloemart and his Sons. Paintings and Prints, 1993, vol. I, pp. 434-435, CAT. C27; vol II, p. 253, fig. 541pp. 434-435; p. 253
- Scannelli, F., Il Microcosmo della pittura, 1996, p. 205
- Morris, Michael, O.P., Magnificat, 2003, pp. I-VI
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best, 2010, cat. 1119 p. 373
- Sauerlander, Willihald, Der Katholische Rubens. Uber die Heilifien und Martyrer, 2011, Fig. 29 p. 87
- Sauerländer, Willibald, The Catholic Rubens: Saints and Martyrs, 2014, 29 p. 84
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