07 works, Today, October 30th, is Saints Hermenegild"s day, his story illustrated #301

Ulpiano Checa Sanz (Spanish, 1860–1916)Title:

The invasion of the Visigoths, c. 1887

Oil on Canvas

98 x 170 cm. (38.6 x 66.9 in.)

Private collection

Ulpiano Fernández-Checa y Saiz (April 3, 1860 – January 5, 1916), known as Ulpiano Checa, was a Spanish painter, sculptor, poster designer and illustrator. He used both impressionistic and academic techniques, and mainly painted historical subjects.

He was born in Colmenar de Oreja, Spain, and exhibited a talent for art when he was a young child. At thirteen, he met Don José Ballester, the husband of a neighbor in Colmenar, who owned the Cafe de la Concepción in Madrid. Ballester was impressed with his work and, after consultation with Luis Taberner (1844–1900), a recognized and popular artist in Madrid, Ballester decided to bring Checa and his family to the capital to begin his art studies.[1]

In 1873, he entered the Escuela de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid, followed by study at the Spanish Academy of Fine Arts in Rome [es], where he would paint Invasion of the Barbarians (since lost in a fire) which won the gold medal at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts in 1887. More on Ulpiano Checa Sanz 

Saint Hermenegild, or Ermengild, (died 13 April 585) was the eldest son of king Liuvigild, of the Visigothic Kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula and southern France, and his first wife, Princess Theodosia. He was brother to Reccared I and brought up an Arian. Liuvigild made his sons co-regents.

The Arian concept of Christ is based on the belief that the Son of God did not always exist but was begotten within time by God the Father, therefore Jesus was not co-eternal with God the Father

In 579 he married Ingund, daughter of the Frankish King Sigebert I of Austrasia who was a Chalcedonian Christian. Her mother was the Visigoth princess Brunhilda of Austrasia. The twelve-year-old Ingund was pressured by Hermenegild's stepmother Goiswintha to abjure her beliefs, but she stayed firm in her faith.

Anonymous

San Hermenegildo, Mid 19th century

Oil on canvas

Height: 117 cm (46 in); Width: 97 cm (38.1 in)

Seville City Council

Chalcedonian Christians follow the Definition of Chalcedon, Council of Chalcedon, the Fourth Ecumenical Council held in 451, a religious doctrine concerning the divine and human natures of Jesus Christ.

Bartolome Esteban Murillo

St. Leander and St. Bonaventure, c. 1665 - 1666

200 x 176 cm

Museum of Fine Arts of Seville, Seville, Spain

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (born late December 1617, baptized January 1, 1618 – April 3, 1682) was a Spanish Baroque painter. Although he is best known for his religious works, Murillo also produced a considerable number of paintings of contemporary women and children. These lively, realist portraits of flower girls, street urchins, and beggars constitute an extensive and appealing record of the everyday life of his times. More on Bartolomé Esteban Murillo

Liuvigild sent Hermenegild to the south to govern on his behalf. There he came under the influence of Leander of Seville, the Catholic Bishop of Seville. Hermenegild was converted to Chalcedonian Christianity. His family demanded that he return to Arianism, but he refused.

Francisco Herrera the Younger  (1622–1685)

The Triumph of St Hermengild, c. 1654

Oil on canvas

Height: 326 cm (10.6 ft); Width: 228 cm (89.7 in)

Prado, Madrid

Francisco Herrera the Younger ("el Mozo"; 1622 - 25 August 1685) was a Spanish painter and architect. He began his career under his father's instruction; but the father's violent temper at last became so intolerable that the youth fled to Rome. For six years the younger Herrera devoted himself to the study of architecture, perspective, and the antique, his aim being fresco painting.

He left to Madrid where he painted a great Triumph of St. Hermengild for the church of the Carmelite friars, and a group of frescoes in San Felipe el Real which was appreciated by Philip IV of Spain, who commissioned him the painting of the dome of the chapel of Our Lady of Atocha, and thereafter made him painter to the king and superintendent of royal buildings. Besides his work in still life he painted many portraits, and while these lacked the vigour which characterized his father's work, they exhibit a greater knowledge and use of chiaroscuro.

Charles II of Spain kept him at his Court and made him master of the royal works. For this king Herrera renovated the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar, in Zaragoza.

Herrera died at Madrid in 1685. More on Francisco Herrera

Around this time, he led a revolt against Liuvigild, his father. Contemporary accounts attribute this to politics rather than primarily to religious differences. He asked for the aid of the Byzantine Empire but they were occupied with defending against territorial incursions by the Sasanian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians. For a time Hermenegild had the support of the Suebi, Germanic peoples originally from the Elbe river region in what is now Germany and the Czech Republic, who had been defeated by Liuvigild in 579. However, Liuvigild forced them to capitulate once again in 583.

Hermenegild fled to Seville and when that fell to a siege in 584 went to Córdoba. After Liuvigild paid 30,000 pieces of gold, the Byzantines withdrew, taking Ingund and her son with them. Hermenegild sought sanctuary in a church. Liuvigild would not violate the sanctuary. He sent Reccared inside to speak with Hermenegild and to offer peace. This was accepted and peace was made for some time.

Francisco Goya, (1746–1828)

St. Hermengild at prison, circa 1810

Museo Lázaro Galdiano 

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (30 March 1746 – 16 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of late 18th and early 19th centuries and throughout his long career was a commentator and chronicler of his era. Immensely successful in his lifetime, Goya is often referred to as both the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns. He was also one of the great portraitists of modern times. More on Francisco José de Goya

Goiswintha, Queen consort and stepmother to Liuvigild's sons Hermenegild and Reccared I, brought about another alienation within the family. Hermenegild was imprisoned in Tarragona or Toledo. During his captivity in the tower of Seville, an Arian bishop was sent to Hermenegild for Easter but he would not accept the Eucharist from him. King Liuvigild ordered him beheaded; he was executed on 13 April 585. The enraged King sent soldiers, who at his orders put his own son to death. 

Juan Ramírez de Arellano (1725–1782) 

Beheading of Saint Hermenegild (564-586), c. 1515

 Oil on panel 

Fine Arts Museum of Granada, Andalusia. Spain.

Juan Ramírez de Arellano (1725–1782) was a Spanish Baroque painter.

Ramírez was a member of a family of artists from Aragon. He was the son of the sculptor Juan Ramírez Mejandre, and brother of sculptor José Ramírez de Arellano, who helped in the colors of some of his works for churches in Zaragoza. He first trained with José Luzán and later moved to Madrid with his countryman, Pablo Pernicharo. His works also show an influence of Corrado Giaquinto.

Among the few known works by his hand, include the Virgin and Child with St. Anne (National Museum of Romanticism and sketch in the Museo del Prado) which, despite being signed J. Ra z, was claimed in the past the young Francisco Goya. He also painted a portrait of the Charles III of Spain (Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando). More on Juan Ramírez de Arellano

Later, the King repented of this inhuman deed and asked Bishop Leander to instruct his youngest son Recared in the Orthodox faith. Thus the Visigoth people was brought into the Faith. More on Saint Hermenegild

Corrado Giaquinto, (Italian, b. ca. 1703–1765)

Saint Hermenegild surrounded by angels and cherubs

Oil on canvas

82.6 x 56.4 cm. (32.5 x 22.2 in.)

Private collection

Corrado Giaquinto was an Italian painter. He was apprenticed to Nicola Maria Rossi, then to Solimena. His spiritual master, however, was undoubtedly Luca Giordano. By the 1740s Giaquinto was the leading exponent of the Rococo school that flourished in Rome during the first half of the 18th century. Later he established himself as Europe's foremost fresco painter after Giambattista Tiepolo.

From 1753 to 1762, Giaquinto moved to Madrid where he achieved great academic honours as well as professional ones. In 1755 he frescoed the Royal Chapel in the Royal Palace, painted seven canvases for the Palace of Aranjuez, supplied further canvases for the Salesian convent in Madrid, and finally painted the famous frescoes in the Royal Palace depicting The Birth of the Sun in the Hall of the Columns, and Spain Saluting Religion and the Church on the staircase. Giaquinto had great influence on Spanish painters, particularly the young Goya.

In 1762 he returned to Naples where his work influenced Neapolitan artists. More on Corrado Giaquinto

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