VISION OF ST. JACEK ODROWAZ (VISION OF SAINT HYACINTH)
SIMONE FERRI DA POGGIBONSI
Documented POGGIBONSI (?) 1564 – 1600
Oil on canvas
113 x 93 cm / 44.5 x 36.6 inches, with frame 133 x 113 cm / 52.5 x 44.6 inches
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Berlin
The canonization in 1594 of Saint Hyacinth, the Polish Dominican monk Jacek Odrowaz, became an important event not only for the Catholic world, but also for the art world, giving artists the opportunity to develop new iconographic subjects. Jacek Odrowaz (1183-5, - 1257) or to use his Latinized form of the name, Hyacinth, was famous for his numerous miracles performed by him during his missionary work in Kiev and in the East. Coming from a noble Silesian family, Hyacinth received his theological education in Paris and Bologna. But the defining event in his life was the meeting with Saint Domenic in Rome in 1221. From the hands of the Domingo de Guzmán Garcés, he receives the Dominican habitat and immediately leaves for his homeland. On the way, to Friesach, he founds the first Dominican monastery in the German-speaking lands and eventually resides first in Krakow, and then, after visiting Moravia and Pomorie, he finds himself in Kiev.
At the same time, Tatar troops invaded Europe from the east, and in 1240 the Tatar army reached Kievan Rus. According to legend, after Mass, St. Jacek heard a woman's voice: "O Hyacinth my son, will you flee the hands of the Tartars and leave me and my son for them to break to pieces and trample?" Thus Virgin Mary called out to him from the statue. He tried to protest that the statue was far too heavy for him to carry, but Mary assured him that her son would reduce the weight. Thus, with the statue in one arm and the host in the other he escaped the chapel in time to save both - by means of a miraculous dry-shod run across the Dnieper River. Jacek is depicted with two attributes: a monstrance with the Holy Gifts and a statue of the Mother of God in his hands. (Acta Sanctorum, August vol. 3, 317).
But the most widespread in painting was another subject, namely the Vision of St. Hyacinth, which took place in Krakow on the eve of the Ascension. The Virgin Mary appeared then: "Hyacinth, my son, rejoice, for your prayers have been accepted and granted in the sight of my son, the Savior of all mankind. Whatever you ask in my name, I will obtain of him" (Acta Sanctorum, August vol. 3, 315, 340)
The attribution to Simone Ferri from Poggibonsi was suggested by Roberto Ciabattini in 2019
Wladyslaw MAXIMOWICZ
Bratislava, 2019
RELATED LITERATURE
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