A Doctor of the Church

Titled A Doctor of the Church, the miter resting on the left side of the wooden table at which the figure portrayed in the present painting sits could identify him as a bishop, an apostle, or one of the Four Fathers (Doctors) of the Catholic Church, or even some combination of the three. Iconographically, the work’s protagonist comes closest to representations of Saint Augustine and Saint Ambrose, who are both typically depicted seated at a desk reading or displaying a large tome to the viewer. Squinting slightly, our saint ponders a vast tome, while other books, a scroll, and a quill in an inkpot are arrayed upon the table. The present painting is dated to 1618-19, by which time Baburen was well-established in the Eternal City. Indeed, the work’s grand scale, sophisticated but muted palette, offset by the grayish white of the saint’s cloak, and the skillful impastoed brushwork used to articulate his soft beard and hair, as well as his wrinkled brow, suggest the work of a mature and confident artist.

A wealthy Spanish connoisseur from Zaragoza, the capitol of Aragon, Cussida had arrived in Rome by 1602 to serve as a diplomatic agent for Philip III and then, briefly, for Philip IV. In this capacity, Cussida was charged with procuring works of art for the Spanish royal collections. Around 1617, Cussida had commissioned five canvases portraying Christ’s Passion for his chapel in San Pietro in Montorio from Baburen, who collaborated on the project with David de Haen. When Cussida died in October 1622, his palace in the via del Corso and all of its contents were left to his son, Gianfrancesco Cussida, who himself passed away in August of the following year. Three days after Gianfrancesco’s death, an inventory of his possessions was compiled that included his paintings. Unfortunately, no names were provided for any of the artists who made these works. A second inventory of the paintings was compiled in 1624. Gianfrancesco had bequeathed all of the works to his one-year-old daughter, Laura Cussida, and they had been placed, along with the infant herself, under the guardianship of her uncle, Nicolò Gavotti. The most detailed potential reference to the present painting can be found in the inventory of 1624: ‘un Santo Agostino che legge tutti grandi con cornici d’oro’ (Saint Augustine who reads, all large with gilt frames). The use of the plural, ‘tutti grandi con cornici d’oro’, indicates that the notary was referring simultaneously to other pictures in the inventory that were also quite large and had gold frames. While the saint in the present painting is indeed reading, and the canvas is quite large, even if its original gold frame has since been replaced, because of the lack of artists’ names in the inventory this hypothetical provenance remains speculative.

The present painting bears striking similarities to Baburen’s Philosopher acquired in 2023 by the Yale University Art Gallery (2023;43.1; fig. 1). Shown like the figure in the present painting in half-length before an unarticulated background, this ancient philosopher, identified by his tam-like cap and voluminous slate-gray robe, is seated at table covered by a colorful carpet. He gestures to a very large open book with one hand while holding it with the other. In addition to similarities of space, composition, and learned subject matter, the broadly brushed execution of the philosopher and the saint’s flesh and clothing is analogous. The men’s faces resemble one another as well, both in physical appearance, especially their long beards, and in passages such as their furrowed brows, heightened with rich impasto touches. Even the way in which light illuminates their books is complementary, and extended smudges of gray paint are used to imitate the tomes’ actual text in both canvases. Baburen’s Philosopher therefore can likely be dated to around the same time as the Doctor of the Church. It might also be mentioned that the Cussida inventories complied in 1623 and 1624 record ‘un quadro con ritratto di un filosofo con cornice indorata’ (a picture with a portrait of a philosopher with a gilt frame). While it is perhaps tempting to propose that the two works were conceived as pendants, there is no real evidence to support this, and the problem of the lack of artists’ names in the Cussida inventories applies to the Philosopher as well. Though both the Doctor of the Church and the Philosopher are horizontal in format, they are of somewhat different dimensions, the proportions of the two figures and their positioning vis-à-vis their desks are dissimilar, and the respective lighting conditions within these canvases do not correlate with one another. Furthermore, there are no visual precedents in early modern European art for showing an ancient philosopher and a theologian as a pair, despite the fact that both professions were dedicated to the life of the mind.