[JESUIT COUNTER-REFORMATION, EAST ASIAN MISSION, AND THE VENERATION OF RELICS IN FLANDERS] Engraved copper printing plate: The Miracles of St. Francis Xavier.
The etching was printed as an illustration in: Philippe François Taisne. Het leven, apostolycke deughden, gheduerighe mirakelen ende glorie vanden H. Franciscvs Xaverivs vande Societeyt Jesu, grooten apostel van Indien ende Iaponien, seer wonderbaer in syn leven, ende naer syne doodt : naementlyck, in het verwecken van twee-en-vyftigh dooden [The life, apostolic virtues, enduring miracles, and glory of St. Francis Xavier of the Society of Jesus, great apostle of India and Japan, most remarkable in his life and after his death: namely, in raising fifty-two dead people]. Antwerp: Michiel Cnobbaert, 1663. Copper plate measuring 13.5 × 9.5 cm, image measuring 11.7 × 8.8 cm. Very good. Item #55134
Original copper printing plate depicting Francis Xavier, canonized in 1622, pioneer of Christian missions in East Asia and co-founder of the Jesuit Order. Apparently, there were different printing plates, because the etching from the comparison copy shows differences that are difficult to explain by later revisions of the plate. For example, although the numbers are engraved in the illustration, the caption below the illustration is missing. There are also minor differences in detail. The caption contains the following explanatory text: "Miraculeuze genezingen van 1. phrenesie, 2. toverij, 3. kwade benen, 4. lopende zweren, 5. blindheid, aen de relikwieën van de heilige Franciscus Xaverius te Mechelen in de kerk van de Sociëteit van Jezus." (Miraculous healings of 1. phrenesis, 2. witchcraft, 3. evil legs, 4. running sores, 5. blindness, at the relics of Saint Francis Xavier in Mechelen in the church of the Society of Jesus).
It is noteworthy that the etching is intended to depict the miracles of healing performed before the relics in Mechelen, while the image itself does not show any veneration of relics. In his book, Taisne describes in great detail not only the relics and the celebrations held in their honor, but also the individual miracles of healing. However, the illustrator did not even attempt to visualize what was written, but instead drew on the iconography he knew well, which thematizes the miracles of the living missionary in India. At that time, Rubens' large altarpiece depicting the miraculous healings of the “Apostle of India” was on view in the Jesuit Church in Antwerp, less than 15 miles from Mechelen. The painting, which was created before the Jesuit was canonized, was not sold to Maria Theresa until the eighteenth century. Today it is housed in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna together with its counterpart, the miracles of Ignatius of Loyola. Despite the very clear reference to this model, which is particularly noticeable in the composition of the image, the individual scenes in the etching are distinct from those in the painting. The engraver takes up the type developed by Rubens and varies it for the purpose of a simple book illustration.
Price: €800.00