St Serapion

• Francisco de Zurbarán, The Martyrdom of Saint Serapion, 1628
• Key facts

  Size: 120 x 103cm

  Medium: oil on canvas

  Location: Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut

  Patron: The Mercedarian Order in Seville
• Description

  
  

  • It eschews the bloody torture he actually endured, and his spotless habit only draws attention to this fact.
  • The Saint’s head and body are slumped – he may have fainted or already be dead, we cannot tell.
• Iconography

  the badge of the Order of Mercedarians.
• Composition and light

  Most of the nearly square canvas is filled by the square-ish shape of St. Serapion’s white habit. The saint’s cruciform shape is an obvious imitation of Christ’s and the fact that Serapion was willing to sacrifice his life to save others is another obvious comparison. The image is sharply lit and pristine in its cleanliness; it is so illuminated from its background that it almost glows supernaturally against the black void.
• Composition and light

  Zurbarán’s notably square composition has been compared to the Holy Shroud, a famous relic in Rome which was the veil St Veronica gave to Christ to wipe the sweat away when he was carrying his cross to Calvary. It was frequently depicted by artists as a square piece of white fabric held up by Veronica or angels. Art theorists claimed this was the origin of painting on canvas.
• Colour

  Zurbarán’s colour palette was largely monochromatic and subdued in tone. In this work, the muted browns and creams are contrasted by the small yet prominent red and yellow colours of the Mercedarian badge on the saint’s torso.
• Tenebrism (the intense contrast between light and dark) throws the saint’s body into dramatic illumination and such strong tonal contrasts are characteristic of Baroque art in the style of Caravaggio.
• Definitive Baroque style is:

  Spanish Baroque Naturalism (hard-edged and austere). The National Gallery in London state that the artist was ‘influenced by the realism of Caravaggio’.
• Historical context

  • The Tridentine Decree manifested itself in Spain in a realist style, with close proximity to the viewer.
  • In sculpture, the medieval tradition of painted wooden sculpture was continued.
  • Some Spanish documents attest that polychromatic sculpture was more valued than painting on account of its realism. It provided an exact simulacrum of divine apparition.
• Saints and martyrs

  Individuals who were venerated for their devotion and sacrifice for the Catholic faith in the 17th century
• Scenes of martyrdom were particularly commonplace in seventeenth-century Spain where the Counter-Reformation spirit was strong
• Beatification

  The third in four steps to becoming a saint
• When was Serapion was beatified by Pope Urban VII?

  1625
• Beatification of Serapion

  Symbolically recalled England's tradition of martyrs for the faith and provided a model for those who were suffering persecution and the threat of a similar death
• Paintings of martyrs

  • St. John Houghton by Zurbarán
  • St. Serapion by Zurbarán
• Paintings of martyrs by Zurbarán


  • Omitted bloody details
  • Showed the saint holding out their heart
  • Showed the saint wearing a noose around their neck
  • Concealed any violence done to the body, though open habit was a reference to the body being cut open
  • Omitted any obvious signs of trauma except for a small welt on the forehead
• Zurbarán appears to have written his own signature and the title of the painting on a white piece of paper, curling up realistically at the edges and pinned up.
• Zurbarán gained the majority of his commissions from monks, and sometimes he even lived in the monasteries he worked to experience the Order more faithfully. Zurbarán’s quietist and very often monastic oeuvre sat comfortably with the long periods of silence monks lived with.
• Patronage

  • Commissioned for the Order of Mercedarians
  • Zurbarán's realistic and austere style was well-suited to its display in a room where deceased monks were laid out before burial
• 'Sala De Profundis'

  The term used by most monasteries in Spain to describe the mortuary chapel in which deceased monks were laid in state before burial
• The Mercedarian Order in Seville

  • Had a 'Sala De Profundis'
  • Commissioned Zurbarán to paint one of their most popular martyrs to occupy it
• Zurbarán's peaceful representation

  Fitting for the original placement of this work in the chapel of rest because it smoothed the transition between life and death
• Influences

  • A spiritual chiaroscuro had long since been a staple of Spanish, mystical texts’.
  • As St. John on the cross had stated, ‘faith, because the night is dark, gives light to the soul lying in darkness’
• "Zurbarán's Saint Serapion is striking on account of its non-violence." - Huntsman
• The only hint of a potentially wounded body is the point at which his outer robes open – described as a metaphor for his violated body within
• What is the painting style?

  It’s all illusionism however, using trompe-l'oeil to suspend our disbelief. Zurbarán’s use of such trickery seems to side with the superiority of painting in relation to the Spanish Paragone.
• Location?

  A consideration of the original location of this work is important in understanding how it would have been received by the viewer. The saint would appear to emerge like an apparition from its dimly lit room.