The Convento Máximo de San Francisco de Quito houses La Doctrina Cristiana, a series of masterpieces by Miguel de Santiago (ca. 1633 – 1705), the leading painter in the Real Audiencia de Quito during the 17th century. The series has inspired a voluminous interpretive literature ever since Vargas (1956) called attention to it for the first time. For a critical review of this literature —and for an insightful discussion of the series of paintings— the reader is referred to Justo Estebaranz 2013, 141-170.

La Doctrina Cristiana consists of eight paintings that follow a dense theological program that involves The Ten Commandments in perplexing combinations with The Seven Petitions of the Our Father, The Seven Virtues, The Seven Vices, The Seven Sacraments, The Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit, and The Seven Works of Corporal Mercy (cf. Vargas 1956, 149-151). What connects commandments, petitions, virtues, vices, sacraments, gifts, and works of mercy? And what explains the combinations thereof found in each one of the paintings?

The recent discovery of the engraved sources of the Santiago series by PESSCA (see below) can finally provide us with resounding answers to these two questions. As it turns out, the Santiago series was based on a set of Italian engravings published in 1653 —about twenty years before the Santiago paintings were completed. Although we do not know the names of the engravers responsible for the printed series, we know that the job engaged several engravers, as the title plate of the series asserts that diversi incidebat  —i.e. that it was incised by several. And the same title plate informs us that the plates were published at the workshop of Giovanni Battista de' Rossi (ca. 1601 – 1678) located in Rome at the Piazza Navona. 

It is also through this title plate that we learn that the engravings were designed by Matthäus Greuter (1564-1638). And that they were dedicated to Cardinal Federico Cornelio (1531-1590). Since Cornelio served in the College of Cardinals between 1585 and 1590, we can safely place Greuter's designs within the same temporal interval.

So what connects commandments, petitions, virtues, vices, sacraments, gifts, and works of mercy in the Santiago paintings? This question is answered by the title of their engraved sources. This title can be translated as follows.

Harmony or concordance of the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer, whose Seven Petitions procede from the Seven Virtues obtained by the Seven Sacraments of the Church against the Seven Mortal Sins and issue from the Seven Gifts of Holy Spirit and by carrying out the Seven Works of Mercy.

The engraved inscription appears on a bush whose roots and leaves are unscathed by the flames that engulf it. The bush grows atop a mountain, as revealed by the expansive landscape below. So this is the bush that burned without consuming itself at Mount Sinai (cf. Exodus 3:2, which is explicitly mentioned in the Italian print). If the corresponding painting ever bore this inscription, it is now gone. The inscription is still readable, however, in the corresponding canvas in a twin series of paintings on The Christian Doctrine —the one found in the Carmelite Monastery at Cuenca, Ecuador (and which is dubiuously attributed to Miguel de Santiago). Yet, the burning bush remains on the Quito painting. And upon both the engraved and the painted mountain is a thick cloud from which four horns blare as described in Exodus 19:16-19.

The engraved plate bearing the inscription represents, on the right, the encounter of Mercy and Truth; on the left, the kiss of Justice and Peace (Justice is shown here bearing its identifying sword, and Peace, its characteristic olive branch). The biblical source of this composition is Psalm 84(85):11 (cf. Zafra Molina 2020, 616), which is indeed quoted —and cited— in the engraving. Translated, this passage reads as follows.

Mercy and truth have met each other: justice and peace have kissed.

The composition thus partakes of the rare iconographical theme of The Reconciliation of the Virtues (see Chew 1947).

In addition to this, we see Christ beginning his recitation of The Lord's Prayer, while a cherub hovering above holds two tables of the Law. These conventionally oblong tables with rounded-tops (cf. Justo Estebaranz 2012, 92) bear injunctions, both against worshipping gods other than God, and against making graven images (Exodus 20:2-4).

As to the particular combination of commandments, petitions, virtues, vices, sacraments, gifts, and works represented in each painting, that is explained in the texts of the corresponding engravings. Said texts read as follows.

PLATE I: The Second Commandment. Blessed by thy name. Faith. Baptism. Pride. Wisdom. Satiate the Thirsty.

Præcipit Iustitia Decalogi NON SVMERE NOMEN D[OMI]NI DEI IN VANUM, respondet prima hæc Petitio, Non solum modo in vanu[m] non sumatur sed et -- SANCTIFICETVR. id quod maxime fit in primo Eccl[esi]æ Sacramento quod est BAPTISMI, quo præcedente prima virtute i FIDE sanctificando nos, sanctificatur et nomen Dei, Patris, et Filij et Sp[iri]t[u] Sancti: extinguendo culpam originalem primi peccatj, SVPERBIÆ scilicet, contemptionis Diuini præcepti, et stulta ambitionis, effici sicut Discientes bonum et malum. Sed iam sanctificati; SAPIENTIÆ donum petimus, ad exercenda Misericordiæ opera, et potu[m] SITIENTIBVS exposcimus.

PLATE II: The Third Commandment. Thy Kingdom Come. Hope. Confirmation. Greed. Intelligence. Shelter the Homeless.

Præcipit lex Diem SABBATHI SANCTIFICARE, sancta pertractare, Regnum Dei quærere, Petitio hæc REGNVM DEI desiderat, et firma SPE expectat vt ADVENIAT gratia spirit[u] S[anc]ti. In CONFIRMATIONIS SACRAMENTO obtinemus muniri gratia Sp[iri]t[u] Sancti, oleo lætitiæ, armatura ad præliandum contra peccata, et acquirendum Regnum Dei, memores verborum Christi, quærite in primis Regnum cœlorum, et cetera omnia adijcientur vobis, verba quæ contra AVARITIAM. Dabitur et INTELLECTVS operandi opera Misericordiæ, vt sicuti nos COLLIGERE HOSPITES parati sumus in hac vita, ita recipiamur in æterna tabernacula.

PLATE III: The Fourth Commandment. Your will be done. Charity. Holy Orders. Envy. Counsel. Visit the Sick.

HONORA PATREM ET MATREM, cui respondet Petitio hæc, dicens, FIAT VOLVNTAS TVA, quia honorare Patrem est obedire Patri, et facere voluntatem eius, Voluntas autem Patris cœlestis et Matris Ecclesiæ quomodo scietur nisi prædicata nobis fuerit, quomodo autem prædicabunt qui non vocati et Ordine sacro ordinati sunt. Ergo in hoc SACRAMENTO ORDINIS obtinetur hæc Petitio, et docemur quod præcipuum voluntatis Dei præceptum sit CHARITAS, diligere Deumet proximum, in quo tota lex co[m]prehe[n]ditur Et Sp[iritu] S[anc]ti dono inspiramur CONSILIO ad charitate[m] VISITANDI INFIRMOS, co[n]tra peccatu[m] INVIDIÆ charitati directe oppositum.

PLATE IIII: The Seventh Commandment. Give us our daily bread. Temperance. Eucharist. Gluttony. Fortitude. Feed the Hungry.

NON FVRTVM FACIES præceptum ponit. Petitio hæc respondet se PANE QVOTIDIANO contentam esse, non diuitias quærere, non furari velle bona proximi, sed TEMPERANTIÆ virtute edocta, moderata, et quæ pro singulo die necessaria sunt petere; Panem itaq. supersubstantialem, cibum ad vitam æternam in sanctissimo EVCHARISTIÆ SACRAMENTO ab Ecclesiae recipit, excludens omnem cupiditatem atq. GVLÆ vitium, Corroboratur dono FORTITUDINIS Spiritus Sancti ad exercendam Misericordiam et DARE PANEM ESVRIENTIBVS constanti charitate.

PLATE V: The Fifth Commandment. Forgive us our debts. Justice. Penance. Wrath. Science. Visit the prisoners.

NON OCCIDES, nec sis iniuria Vindex, aut odium gerens e coelo Iustitia prædicat. Imitator Christi Pace osculans, ad præceptum inclinat, Iustitiae offitium petens, vt DIMITTATVR SIBI SICVT ET IPSE DIMITTIT, Impetrat quod petit in POENITENTIÆ SACRAMENTO, vbi consequitur remissionem peccatorum. Et extincta IRA, et Odij ignorantia SCIENTIÆ dono a Spiritu sancto elucidatus in cognitionem venit salutis viam esse exercitationem bonorum operum, vt VISITARE INCARCERATOS et mansuetum se ostendere pauperibus.

PLATE VI: The Sixth Commandment. Do not lead us into Temptation. Prudence. Matrimony. Lust. Piety. Clothe the naked.

NON MOECHABERIS, rigorem legis temens hæc Petitio, NE INDVCATVR IN TENTATIONEM orat, quia tentatio carnis assidue contra hoc præceptu[m] stimulat, et sæpius ad transgressionem conducit, est autem PRVDENTIA Dei præordinatum remedium SACRAMENTVM MATRIMONII, ad reprimendam dissolutam LVXURIAM, Et sicut Eua prima fuit in tentatione cibi, sic et prima in Matrimonio, ab ipso Creatore instituto ad procreandu[m] genus humanu[m], vt in PIETATE erga Deum et proximu[m] viuamus, cuius NUDITATEM OPERIRI [exemplo Creatoris in paradiso] ex Misericordiæ operibus haud minimum est. 

PLATE VII: The Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Commandments. Deliver us from Evil. Fortitude, Exreme Unction. Sloth. Fear of God. Bury the Dead.

NON LOQVERIS FALSVM, NON DESIDERABIS OMNIA QVÆ PROXIMI SVNT. Omnis falsitis malum, et malum omne desiderium quod co[n]tra dilectionem proximi est; A MALO LIBERARI sumarie. vltima petitio orat. In FORTITVDINE mentis in Deum spectantis ACCIDIAM et timorem mortis superans, cui occurrit vltimum EXTREMÆ VNCTIONIS Sacramentum, gratiam Dei nobis conferens, et ita a detentione Satanæ omniq. malo liberamur, et cum per donum TIMORIS DEI viuis et morientibus simul ac mortuis misericordiam fec[er]imus, in gratia Dei vitam nostram concludamus.

References

Chew, Samuel (1947) The Virtues Reconciled. An Iconographic Study. Toronto, University of Toronto Press.

Justo Estebaranz, Ángel (2012) "Christian Doctrine Series 1670s / Serie de La Doctrina Cristiana, 1670s." In Stratton-Pruitt, Suzanne (ed,) The Art of Painting in Colonial Quito / El arte de la pintura en Quito Colonial. Philadelphia: Saint Joseph's University Press, 2012, pp. 92-96.

Justo Estebaranz, Ángel (2013) El pintor quiteño Miguel de Santiago (1633-1706). Su vida, su obra, y su taller. Sevilla: Secretariado de Publicaciones, Universidad de Sevilla.

Vargas, Fray José María (1956) Arte Religioso Ecuatoriano. Quito: Editorial Casa de la Cultura Eciuatoriana.

Zafra Molina, Rafael (2020) "Fuentes y función de la Doctrina Cristiana de Miguel de Santiago para el Convento de San Francisco de Quito." Hipogrifo 8: 601-637.

Created: July 15, 2020

Last Revised: July 26, 2020