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Ex-Voto of 1662
Philippe de Champaigne · Baroque & Dutch Golden Age
- Artist
- Philippe de Champaigne (1602–1674)
- Date
- 1662
- Dimensions
- 165 x 229 cm
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Location
- Musée du Louvre, Paris, France
This painting shows two nuns of the convent of Port-Royal in a bare grey cell. One, Mother Catherine-Agnès Arnauld, kneels in prayer; the other, Sister Catherine de Sainte-Suzanne, sits in a chair with her legs resting on a stool, her hands joined. A ray of light falls between them.
A closer look
Sister Catherine de Sainte-Suzanne was the painter's own daughter. She had been paralysed in the legs for more than a year when, in January 1662, after nine days of prayer led by the Mother Superior, she suddenly recovered. Champaigne painted this picture as an ex-voto, an offering of thanks for the miracle, and an inscription at the left tells the story. The composition is utterly simple and austere, almost colourless: the white habits with their red crosses, the grey walls and the beam of light. This sobriety reflects the strict spirituality of the Jansenists of Port-Royal, to whom Champaigne was close.