The Vision of the Blessed Hermann Joseph

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.

Background

The painting depicts Hermann Joseph, a Premonstratensian canon and priest from the Cologne region. He had a devotion to the Virgin Mary 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 to her and received the name 'Joseph' after her spouse Saint Joseph[1] Produced for a chapel in Saint Ignatius Church in Antwerp (as had Coronation of Saint Rosalia the previous year), it is now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.[2]

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.[3] It seems to have been influenced by The Vision of Saint Francis Xavier by the Antwerp painter Gerard Seghers and by Rubens's Saint Teresa of Ávila's Vision of the Holy Spirit – 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.[4]

References
  1. "Guggenheim Museum – Connecting Museums". pastexhibitions.guggenheim.org. 2002-06-05. Retrieved 2015-11-24.
  2. Kunsthistorisches Museum
  3. "TOPA FR | Antoon van Dyck en de Antwerpse Monumentale Kerken". topa.be. Archived from the original on 2015-11-25. Retrieved 2015-11-24.
  4. Martin, Gregory. The Flemish School, 1600-1900, National Gallery Catalogues, p. 26, 1970, National Gallery, London, ISBN 0-901791-02-4
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