To celebrate today’s feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus here is an image of ‘The Adoration of the Sacred Heart with Saints Ignatius Loyola and Louis Gonzaga’ by the Mexican artist José de Páez (1727-1790).
Painted around 1770 this devotional image depicts two Jesuit saints kneeling before the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The flaming heart is surmounted by a cross and surrounded by a gloria of cherubs. Devotion to the Sacred Heart was first initiated by a mystic nun, Marguerite Marie Alacoque, in the 1600s and advocated in the 1700s by the Jesuits who, in response to Enlightenment philosophy, encouraged contemplation of nature and its creation as an avenue to reconcile the two worlds of religion and science. The iconography was particularly popular in New Spain in the 1700s, and featured in paintings, prints, and sculpture.
José de Páez seems to have been a student of the important painter Nicolás Enríquez (1704-1790). Páez became one of the most prolific artists of the mid- to late-1700s and is known for the jewel-like quality of his work. This oil on copper painting features the red and blue tones typical of Páez’s work, along with the gentle facial expressions of the two Jesuits.
The Arts of Golden Age Spain and the Hispanic World 