The Miracles of Saint Francis of Paola

Object Details

Title:

The Miracles of Saint Francis of Paola

Artist/Maker(s):

Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577 - 1640)

Culture:

Flemish

Date:

about 1627 - 1628

Medium:

Oil on panel

Dimensions:

97.5 x 77.2 cm (38 3/8 x 30 3/8 in.)

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Arms outstretched, Saint Francis of Paola levitates while surrounded by a divine light. The crowd surges towards the saint, whose expression conveys his communion with God at the apex of the composition. Famed for his miraculous healing powers, Saint Francis of Paola was invited to France by the sickly King Louis XI, who is shown at the left with his royal court. In the foreground, a man and woman in paroxysms of insanity are restrained while awaiting their cure. To their right, a dead man comes to life as a sheet is symbolically lifted from his face. An assortment of people, some afflicted with blindness, deafness, lameness, or the infirmities of old age, ascend the stairs. The varied gestures and expressions enhance the dramatic effect of the whole.

Provenance
- 1857

James A. Morrison, 1789 - 1857 (London, England; Basildon Park, Berkshire, England), by inheritance to his son, Charles Morrison, 1857.

1857 - 1909

Charles Morrison, 1817 - 1909 (Basildon Park, Berkshire, England), by inheritance to his brother, Walter Morrison, 1909.

1909 - 1910

Walter Morrison, 1836 - 1921 (Basildon Park, Berkshire, England), by gift to his nephew, James Archibald Morrison, 1910.

1910 - 1934

Major James Archibald Morrison, 1873 - 1934 (London, England; Basildon Park, Berkshire, England), by inheritance to Simon Archibald Morrison, 1934.

1934 -

Simon Archibald Morrison, born 1903 (London, England), by inheritance to his nephew, Geoffrey Mark Dent-Brocklehurst.

Estate of (Geoffrey) Mark Dent-Brocklehurst, English, 1932 - 1972

- 1990

Mrs. Mary Elizabeth (Chips) Dent-Brocklehurst (Sudeley Castle, Gloucestershire, England)

- 1991

Howard Lepow

- 1991

and H. Shickman Gallery (London), sold to the J. Paul Getty Museum, 1991.

Exhibitions
Third International Loan Exhibition (1914 to 1915)
  • Grosvenor Gallery, (London), 1914 to 1915, (Cat. 99)
Bibliography

Waagen, Gustav Friedrich. Treasures of Art in Great Britian: Being an Account of the Chief Collections of Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures, Illuminated Mss., &c., &c. 3 vols. (London: John Murray, 1854), vol. 2, p. 263.

Carr, Dawson W., and Mark Leonard. Looking at Paintings: A Guide to Technical Terms (Malibu: J. Paul Getty Museum, with British Museum Press, 1992), p. 49, ill.

Jaffé, David. Summary Catalogue of European Paintings in the J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1997), p. 110, ill.

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