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| Alonso Cano Death of St Joseph ca. 1646 oil on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Francisco de Zurbarán St Elizabeth of Thuringia ca. 1635-40 oil on canvas Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao |
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| attributed to Antonio de Bellis Sacrifice of Noah ca. 1640-55 oil on canvas Museum of Fine Arts, Houston |
A SACRIFICE
Hark!
Did you not hear the mournful cries
Of a new-slain sacrifice?
Would you know what felt the smart?
'Twas a broken, bleeding heart.
Burning, pure, celestial love
Was the high priest, and borne above
The sharp law that steers our life
Was the sacrificing knife.
The altar, built of precious stones,
Secret sighs, true tears, deep groans,
Grievous groans, fetched far and low,
Such as none but the saints know;
The fire, pure zeal, swift of wing,
Like that which ate up Israel's king.
Hail, holy flame! My heart refine;
Purge it from dross; make it divine;
Bathe it in that high-languaged blood
Which out-speaks Abel's; in that flood
Refine, reform it; fix it far
Above my sins, a shining star.
Take from it folly, give it fear:
Kill it here, and crown it there.
– by Robert Davenport, composed ca. 1640, but unpublished until 1921 when first printed by George Thorn-Drury in A Little Ark: containing sundry pieces of seventeenth-century verse (London: P.J. and A.E. Dobell)
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| Philippe de Champaigne Annunciation ca. 1645 oil on canvas Wallace Collection, London |
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| Salomon de Bray Samson with the Jawbone of an Ass 1636 oil on canvas Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
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| Salomon de Bray David with his Sword 1636 oil on canvas Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
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| Guido Cagnacci David with the Head of Goliath ca. 1645-50 oil on canvas Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
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| Peter Paul Rubens Triptych of St Ildefonso 1630-32 oil on panel Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
A SONNET
My God, where is that ancient heat towards thee,
Wherewith whole shoals of martyrs once did burn,
Besides their other flames? Doth poetry
Wear Venus' livery? only serve her turn?
Why are not sonnets made of thee? and lays
Upon thine altar burnt? Cannot thy love
Heighten a spirit to sound out thy praise
As well as any she? Cannot thy dove
Outstrip their Cupid easily in flight?
Or, since thy ways are deep, and still the same,
Will not a verse run smooth that bears thy name?
Why doth that fire which by thy power and might
Each breast does feel no braver fuel choose
Than that which one day worms may chance refuse?
– George Herbert (1593-1633)
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| Pedro Orrente Christ entering Jerusalem 1640 oil on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Michel Dorigny Hagar and the Angel 1645 oil on canvas Museum of Fine Arts, Houston |
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| Jusepe de Ribera St Matthew 1632 oil on canvas Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas |
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| Juan Bautista Maíno Portrait of Friar Alonso de Sant Tomàs 1648-49 oil on canvas Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona |
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| Simon Vouet Entombment 1649 oil on canvas Musée d'art moderne André Malraux, Le Havre |
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| Pieter Neefs the Elder Interior of Gothic Church 1630s oil on panel Dulwich Picture Gallery, London |
CHURCH FESTIVALS
Marrow of time; eternity in brief
Compendium epitomized; the chief
Contents, the indices, the title-pages
Of all past, present, and succeeding ages;
Sublimate graces, antedated glories;
The cream of holiness;
The inventories
Of future blessedness;
The florilegia of celestial stories;
Spirits of joys; the relishes and closes
Of angels' music; pearls dissolvèd; roses
Perfumèd; sugared honeycombs; delights
Never too highly prized;
The marriage rites
Which, duly solemnized,
Usher espousèd souls to bridal nights;
Gilded sunbeams; refinèd elixirs
And quintessential extracts of stars –
Who love not you, doth but in vain profess
That he loves God, or heaven, or happiness.
– Christopher Harvey (1640)