Saint Francis Borgia
Unknown Italian (active in Rome), Italian, about 1700
about 1700
Bronze
Overall: 36 in. (91.4 cm)
Overall: 43 11/16 in. (110.9 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through a gift from W. David Dance, Class of 1940 in memory of Jane Dance
2007.58
Geography
Place Made: Italy, Europe
Period
1600-1800
Object Name
Sculpture
Research Area
Sculpture
On view
Label
This bronze represents Saint Francis Borgia (1510–1572), a prominent symbol of the Jesuit society. Born into Spanish nobility, Saint Francis rejected his familial titles and wealth following the death of his wife in 1546. Consider the statue’s left foot resting on an overturned crown, as a symbol of Borgia’s forfeiture of status and title when he joined the Jesuit Order.
Jesuits were active in missionary work and were immensely important in the exchange of art and Christian culture across the globe; they traveled to lands colonized by the Spanish. These missionaries, who gained prominence in the wake of the Catholic Reformation, promoted the conversion of Indigenous communities. Their evangelism paved the way for various forms of cultural exchange, including changes in the subject and style of artistic expression in both Europe and colonized lands. Such exchange occurred from starkly different positions of power.
Written by Emma Troost, ’24
From the 2023 exhibition Faith and Empire: The Legacy of Conversion and Commerce in the Early Modern World, curated by students of ARTH 20.04, "Faith and Empire: Art in the Early Modern World" taught by Elizabeth Rice Mattison, Andrew W. Mellon Associate Curator of Academic Programming
Course History
Art History 20.04, Faith and Empire, Beth Mattison, Spring 2023
Exhibition History
European Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Museum of Art, William B. Jaffe and Evelyn A. Jaffe Hall Galleries, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, August 30, 2008-March 8, 2009.
Faith and Empire: The Legacy of Conversion and Commerce in the Early Modern World, Class of 1967 Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, August 12-December 23, 2023.
Ivan Albright Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, April 18, 2008.
Ivan Albright Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, April 20, 2009-present.
Jesuit Art and Iconography, 1550-1800, Saint Peter's College Art Gallery, Jersey City, New Jersey, April 13-May 7, 1993, cat. no. 12 [as Francesco Vergara.]
Jesuit Art in North American Collections, Haggerty Museum, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, March 7, 1990-January 16, 1991, cat. 12 [as North Italian.]
Living with Sculpture: Presence and Power in Europe, 1400–1750, Citrin Family Gallery and Engles Family Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 23, 2024–March 22, 2025.
The Holy Name: Art of the Gesu: Bernini and his Age, Fairfield University Art Museum, Fairfield, Connecticut, February 2-May 19, 2018.
Publication History
Andres de Sales Ferri Chulio, Francisco Vergara Bartual, Escultor, 1713-1761, Sueca, Spain, 1998, p. 190 (illus.)
Drs. Jane ten Brink Goldsmith and Jean-Patrice Marandel, Jesuit Art in North American Collections, Haggerty Museum, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1991, cat. no. 12.
Dr. Marcus B. Burke, Jesuit Art and Iconography, 1550-1800, Saint Peter's College Art Gallery, Jersey City, New Jersey, 1993, cat. no. 12.
T. Barton Thurber, European Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Museum of Art, Hanover: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 2008, pp. 60-61, ill. pp. 60/61, no. 21.
Linda Wolk-Simon, Chrisopher M. S. Johns, The Holy Name Art of the Gesu: Bernini and his Age, Early Modern Catholocism and the Visual Arts, Vol. 17, Philadelphia: Saint Joseph's University Press, 2018, pp 514-516, ill. p. 515, Cat. 47.
Provenance
Andrew Ciechanowiecki, London, until 1989; Valery Taylor Gallery, Denver, Colorado; sold to present collection, 2007.
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