Abstract
Abstract This article examines two small portraits of Ignatius of Loyola painted on copper between 1598 and 1622. Rather than focusing on the true likeness of the founder of the Jesuits, it sheds light on the neglected early history of the Ignatius-ignis pun, according to which his name is juxtaposed with the Latin word for fire. For this purpose, the article connects to the growing interest in the materiality of art. In contrast to traditional supports, the use of copper generates extraordinarily brilliant pictorial effects. This “magical” production of light plays, I argue, a crucial role in representing both Pedro Ribadeneyra’s account of Ignatius’s fiery physiology and Filippo Neri’s report concerning Ignatius’s supernatural splendor. However, the presence of light is no metaphor of the divine but is closely related to the contemporary physics and metaphysics of light. With Francesco Patrizi da Cherso in mind, the portraits can be construed as allegories of light and fire.
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