The Ecstasy of St. Francis Xavier

613
The Ecstasy of St. Francis Xavier
ca. 1740
Paul Troger

St Francis Xavier was one of the greatest missionaries, who converted the pagans and healed the sick. He is portrayed as a Jesuit wearing a rochet and a stole, with a cross in his hand and accompanied by a black pagan to his left, in ecstasy as the Holy Spirit appears to him surrounded by angels. To the right in the background, behind St Francis's head, blurred elements of a building fade into the darkness, as if the Heavens had laid the church walls open. A divine light falls from the left in a steep diagonal, illuminating the Saint's face, his white rochet and a part of the black boy's mantle. Thus the Baroque sense of drama and darkness boldly dispelled by sacral symbolism was achieved.