St Ignatius Loyola

This 1642 painting of Saint Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order, is now in the Royal Collection. The Jesuits were the most powerful religious order of the Counter-Reformation, and images of their founder were in enormous demand throughout the Catholic world. Zurbarán's austere, powerfully meditative style—white-robed monks in intense chiaroscuro, saints presented against dark backgrounds with sculptural solidity—made him the ideal painter for the Counter-Reformation religious orders of Extremadura and Seville.

Ignatius is shown in the black Jesuit cassock, his dark figure dramatically lit against a shadowed background. The rendering of the book and biretta demonstrates Zurbarán's precise approach to still-life elements within portraiture.