Francisco de Zurbarán
St. Bonaventure Visited by St. Thomas Aquinas
1629
Oil on canvas
Basilica of San Francisco el Grande, Madrid
The painting represents an episode in Ottaviano de Martini's Life of St. Bonaventure:
Once while he was intense in his studies, contemplating the life of blessed Francis and making notes, the glorious St. Thomas Aquinas came to his cell. Aquinas was justly famous at the time and was a dear friend of Bonaventure. He looked into the cell from the doorway and saw Bonaventure so rapt in contemplation that he had miraculously risen from the ground. Aquinas withdrew and said to his companions, "This holy man is working for the saint [Francis]; let us leave him alone."Acta Sanctorum, July III, 827 – my translation
Zurbarán puts Aquinas at the door (in the black and white habit) with one companion. He ignores the part about rising in the air, preferring to express Bonaventure's rapture by an upward gaze and the pure light entering at the window. The crowded bookcase behind him and the pile of books on his desk speak to his erudition, and his humility is emphasized by the absence of the red cardinal's hat that had been standard in earlier portraits.
Read more about images of St. Bonaventure.
Source: this page at Wikimedia Commons.
