Saint Francis Xavier with a divine light emanating towards him from the upper left, with a crucifix, mitre, and book on a table at left
Medium
Engraving; copy
Dimensions
Sheet (Trimmed): 15 3/8 × 10 1/16 in. (39.1 × 25.5 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1951
Accession Number
51.501.7133
Tags
Art Historical Context
This striking 1622 engraving, by Schelte Adams àswert after a design by Peter Paul Rubens captures Saint Francis Xavier bathed in divine light streaming from the upper left. The Jesuit missionary saint stands reverently, with a crucifix, mitre (symbolizing his bishopric), and book on a table nearby, evoking themes of faith, mission, and divine inspiration. Tags like "Saint Francis," "Cross," and "ucifixion" highlight devotional focus on Xavier's life of evangelism and martyrdom-like zeal. Rubens, a master of the Flemish Baroque, infused his compositions with dramatic chiaroscuro and emotional...
About the Artist
Anonymous|Peter Paul Rubens|Schelte Adams à Bolswert
In the vast tapestry of art history, "Anonymous" stands not as a singular individual but as a collective designation for countless unidentified creators whose works have endured across millennia. These artists, spanning prehistoric cave painters to medieval illuminators and folk craftsmen, produced the foundational layers of human visual culture. Prior to the Renaissance, when individual fame emer...