Saint Augustine in his Study Trampling the Heretics

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Artist: Philippe de Champaigne (French, 1602–1674)
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 99.5 × 80.5 cm (39 3/16 × 31 11/16 in.)
Culture: French
Museum: J. Paul Getty Museum
Rights: CC0 — no rights reserved

Saint Augustine sits dressed in impressive gold robes as a beam of divine light inscribed with the word veritas (truth) enters his study. The light causes his halo to flicker, sending rays toward the flaming red heart in his hand, a traditional symbol of his devotion to God. Beneath his foot, Augustine subdues a serpent and a group of heretics, including the theologian Pelagius and his followers. The imagery refers to Augustine’s theological disputes with the Pelagians over key elements of Christian belief and presents Augustine as the triumphant voice of the faith.

The composition was likely inspired by an anonymous frontispiece in Augustinus (1640), a theological treatise by Cornelius Jansen (1585-1638). Like this painting, the print shows Augustine holding a flaming heart while trampling figures identified as Pelagius, Caelestius, and Julian of Aeclanum. Champaigne painted another version of this subject, now in the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). In that work, rather than depicting the heretical figures, Champaigne positions Augustine’s foot on books and scrolls inscribed with the names of Pelagius and his followers.

Text: J. Paul Getty Trust, CC BY 4.0.