Anton van Dyck - The Vision of the Blessed Hermann Joseph - Google Art Project

''The Vision of the Blessed Hermann Joseph'' or ''The Mystical Engagement of the Blessed Hermann Joseph to the Virgin Mary'' is a 1629-1630 painting by the Flemish Baroque painter

Anthony van Dyck Sir Anthony van Dyck (, many variant spellings; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Brabantian Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Southern Netherlands and Italy. The seventh c ...

Background

The painting depicts

Hermann Joseph Hermann Joseph, (c. 11507 April 1241) was a German Premonstratensian canons regular, canon regular and mysticism, mystic. Never formally canonization, canonized, in 1958 his status as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church was formally recognized ...

, a

Premonstratensian The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular of the Catholic Church ...

canon and priest from the

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

region. He had a devotion to the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

and according to legend had several visions of her during his lifetime – the painting shows one of these, in which he was joined in a

mystic marriage __NOTOC__ Within the Christian tradition, bridal theology, also referred to as mystical marriage, is the New Testament portrayal of communion with Jesus as a marriage, and God's reign as a wedding banquet. This tradition in turn traces back to th ...

to her and received the name 'Joseph' after her spouse

Saint Joseph Joseph (; el, Ἰωσήφ, translit=Ioséph) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who, according to the canonical Gospels, was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. The Gospels also name some brothers of ...

Produced for a chapel in Saint Ignatius Church in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

(as had ''

Coronation of Saint Rosalia ''The Coronation of Saint Rosalia'' or ''Madonna and Child with Saints Rosalia, Peter and Paul'' is an oil on canvas painting made by Anthony van Dyck in 1629. It and the compositionally similar ''The Vision of the Blessed Hermann Joseph'' (1630C ...

'' the previous year), it is now in the

Kunsthistorisches Museum The Kunsthistorisches Museum ( "Museum of Art History", often referred to as the "Museum of Fine Arts") is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on the Vienna Ring Road, it is crowned with an octagonal do ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

History

The painting was one of several commissioned from van Dyck by the Jesuit sodality in Antwerp, of which he had become a member in 1628. It seems to have been influenced by ''The Vision of Saint Francis Xavier'' by the Antwerp painter

Gerard Seghers Gerard SeghersGerard Seghers
at the

Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque traditio ...

's ''

Saint Teresa of Ávila's Vision of the Holy Spirit ''Saint Teresa of Ávila's Vision of the Holy Spirit'' is a 1612-1614 painting by Peter Paul Rubens. It is now in the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam. It shows a vision described by Teresa of Avila in her autobiography and (with two ot ...

'' – van Dyck had been working as Rubens' studio assistant and pupil since returning to Antwerp in 1627 after eight years in Italy, including work on a series of paintings for

Saint Carolus Borromeus church St. Charles Borromeo Church (Dutch: ''Sint-Carolus Borromeuskerk'') is a church in central Antwerp, located on the Hendrik Conscience square. It was built in 1615-1621 as the Jesuit church of Antwerp, which was closed in 1773. It was rededicated i ...

.Martin, Gregory. ''The Flemish School, 1600-1900'', National Gallery Catalogues, p. 26, 1970, National Gallery, London,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vision of the Blessed Hermann Joseph 1630 paintings Religious paintings by Anthony van Dyck Paintings in the Kunsthistorisches Museum Paintings of the Virgin Mary Paintings of saints Angels in art

Background

History

See also

References