El Greco (1541-1614)
Aparición de la Virgen y el Niño a San Jacinto (Apparition of the Virgin and Child to Saint Hyacinth)
c.1605–1610
Oil on canvas, 158.4 x 98.7 cm
Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia
Hyacinth, a Polish Dominican priest born in 1185, is said to have witnessed an apparition of the Virgin and Child on the feast day of the Virgin’s assumption into heaven. Here, the mystical vision hovers in a burst of light and cloud before the enraptured priest. With one hand clutched dramatically to his chest, Hyacinth extends the other toward the viewer, almost as an invitation into the image. El Greco painted this canvas a few decades after Hyacinth was granted sainthood by Pope Clement VIII. (BF)