A beautiful painting of Saint Vincent Ferrer by Jose Garcia Hidalgo depicted as a Dominican friar, wearing the traditional black and white habit, clean shaven, tonsured, and pointing toward Heaven with his right index finger. To the left of his face is an inscription, the opening of a phrase from Revelation 14:7, “Timete Deum …” (continues “et Date Illi Honorem”) meaning “Fear God and give Him honor” as judgment day is coming. Since Saint Vincent Ferrer is associated with the angel who speaks Revelation 14:7 “having the eternal gospel, to preach unto them that sit upon the earth, and over every nation, and tribe, and tongue, and people” he also dons a pair of wings. In addition, he holds a crucifix with a bouquet of white lilies in his left hand. The mitres beside him are a rarer attribute referencing when Pope Benedict XIII wanted to make St. Vincent Ferrer a bishop and cardinal, but he refused, perhaps in hopes of persuading Benedict to resign and thus end the Great Western Schism. The skull upon the Bible may reference the many miracles attributed to Saint Vincent Ferrer. These include curing the ill and resurrecting the dead. All is rendered with the artist’s signature rich palette and striking tenebroso – a dramatic play of light and shadow characteristic of the Baroque period.

Jose Garcia Hidalgo, was a Spanish Baroque artist and treatise writer. He trained in Rome where he was influenced by Pietro da Cortona (1596-1669) and Salvator Rosa (1615-1673). He returned to Spain around 1670 and became a member of Juan Carreno de Miranda workshop in Madrid. In 1703 he became an honorary painter to Felipe V, and ran a drawing academy until his death. His paintings demonstrate many of the hallmarks of the Baroque period including the tenebrism of the Valencian school. Twenty of his works are held at the Museo del Prado including his portrait of Maria Luisa de Orleans, Queen Consort of Carlos II (ca. 1679), one of the few royally commissioned paintings together with that of Felipe V. (Source: Marques de Rafal Collection)

About Saint Vincent Ferrer: “St. Vincent Ferrer (born c. 1350, Valencia, Aragon—died April 5, 1419, Vannes, France; canonized 1455; feast day April 5) was an Aragonese friar and renowned preacher who helped to end the Great Western Schism. In 1367 he entered the Dominican order at Valencia, where he became professor of theology. In 1394 the antipope Benedict XIII made him his confessor and theologian to his court at Avignon, but five years later Vincent resigned to undertake missions. Travelling through Burgundy, southern France, Switzerland, northern Italy, and Spain, he attracted crowds everywhere and had notable success in winning Jewish converts. He was known for his religious poverty and austerity, including perpetual fasting, and was believed to have the gift of miracles.”