Consecration of the world to the Most Holy Heart of Jesus

Consecration of the World to the Most Holy Heart of Jesus, painted in 1783 for the Estrela Basilica, engages with the devotion to the Sacred Heart that was gaining significant momentum in eighteenth-century Catholic spirituality. The Sacred Heart devotion, championed especially by the Jesuits before their suppression in 1773, depicted Christ's heart as a physical symbol of divine love. After the suppression of the Jesuits, devotion to the Sacred Heart continued under other auspices, and its inclusion in the Estrela program reflects Queen Maria I's personal piety. Batoni's rendering of this devotional subject required him to engage with the iconography of the Sacred Heart — the flaming, crowned heart — within a compositional language appropriate to a major altarpiece.

Oil on canvas requiring specific Sacred Heart iconography: the flaming heart with crown of thorns, typically held by or radiating from the figure of Christ. Batoni integrates the devotional image into a monumental composition appropriate for basilica installation. Warm reds and golds dominate, appropriate to the fervent tone of the devotion.