Miracles of St. Francis Xavier (Rubens)

It is suggested that the setting of the painting focuses on St. Francis Xavier's missionary actions in Asia.^[8] These actions caused people to spread word about his miracles.^[8] Researchers know that Rubens received information about the geography and history of Asian culture from Theodore de Bry.^[8] Rubens used this information and information he knew about European culture, which resulted in a setting that combined aspects of both cultures.^[8] It is known that the baby being held by the mother symbolizes the event when St. Francis Xavier resurrected a baby from drowning in India.^[2] In the middle of the painting, there are men in Korean outfits who symbolize people who initially questioned St. Francis Xavier's ability to perform his miracles.^[2] They were eventually convinced of St. Francis Xavier's ability.^[2]

The figure that wears a crown is interpreted as a Hindu idol.^[7] Rubens drew this figure based on the information he received from sculptures and travel accounts about Indian culture.^[7] Another way Rubens received information about Indian culture was through goods from India that were traded in Antwerp.^[7] Specifically, the idol was based on the Western interpretation of Indian gods.^[9] In the Western interpretation, Hindu idols were shown as demonic figures.^[9] The figure has an open mouth on its body because this concept in Western art represented the devil.^[7] The figure's position and St. Francis Xavier's gesture show that St. Francis Xavier is directing the heavenly vision that is attacking the figure.^[9] This interpretation follows St. Francis Xavier's time in India in which he persuaded people to follow the Church and get rid of any depictions of their previous religion.^[9]

Researchers are not sure how Rubens received information about the bubonic plague, a deadly disease, because he never had the disease.^[2] There is a possibility that Rubens received information about the disease through plague treatises.^[2] Another possibility is that Rubens was inspired by an art piece created by Jacopo Tintoretto, called St. Roch Healing Plague Victims.^[2] The art piece has figures that have postures similar to the male figure in this painting.^[2] It is theorized that the male figure in the lower left corner of the altarpiece is to have been a victim of the plague.^[2] It is suggested that the male figure's posture has been referenced from other paintings that depict the plague.^[2] Among these plague paintings include St. Francis of Paola, another painting created by Rubens.^[2] Researchers have theorized that the plague is symbolized by the figure's exposed underarm.^[2]

There is a figure wearing attire that might be Korean or Chinese in the center of the painting.^[10] This figure resembles the subject of one Rubens's drawings, traditionally known as Man in Korean Costume.^[10] Rubens used foreign attire in his paintings to add dramatic effects.^[10] The figure was originally going to wear Turkish attire, but the Jesuits wanted a variety of clothing to represent their activity in Asia.^[10] They did not have a direct relationship with Korea during the seventeenth century, but they learned about the country through their activities in China.^[10] The Jesuits displayed their victories and activities outside the country by displaying foreign attire in art pieces.^[10] The East Asian attire in this painting symbolizes the belief that Catholicism was superior while demoting paganism to a primitive status.^[10] Recent research has demonstrated that the man is actually a Chinese Protestant from the Ming period named Yppong. The confusion was made because of the similarities in clothing.^[11][12]

• Baudouin, Frans. (1989). Pietro Pauolo Rubens. London, England: Bracken Books: 20, 106, 157–158.
• Boeckl, Christine. (1996). "Plague Imagery as Metaphor for Heresy in Rubens' The Miracles of Saint Francis Xavier." The Sixteenth Century Journal 27(4): 979–995
• Burchard, L. (1963). Rubens Drawings. Brussels: Arcade Press. 154, 179–181.
• Downes, Kerry. (2003). Rubens /. London: Chaucer: 122–123, 128.
• Glen, Thomas L. (1977). Rubens and the Counter Reformation: Studies in His Religious Paintings between 1609 and 1620 /. New York:: Garland Pub.
• Miller, Rachel. (2018). "Peter Paul Rubens's Investigation of the Origins of Idolatry and Iconoclasm in the Jesuit Church of Antwerp." IKON: 127–140.
• Sauerländer, Willibald. (2014). "New Saints and Reinvigorated Veneration of the Saints." The Catholic Rubens. Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute: 90–96.
• Schrader, Stephanie. (2013). Looking East: Rubens's encounter with Asia. Los Angeles: Getty Publications. 1–7, 39–60.
• Spinks, Jennifer. (2014). "The Southern Indian 'Devil in Calicut' in Early Modern Northern Europe: Images, Texts and Objects in Motion." Journal of Early Modern History 18(1/2): 15–48.doi:1163/15700658-12342383.
• Uppenkamp, Barbara. (2016). "'Indian' motifs in Peter Paul Rubens's The Martyrdom of Saint Thomas and The miracles of Saint Francis Xavier." Nederlandsch kunsthistorisch jaarboek. 66:112–141.