The work you are looking at now was painted by Pierre Paul Rubens. An artistic genius, he was considered to be not only the greatest painter of the Renaissance, but also the first Baroque artist of his time. Already in his lifetime, Rubens was well-known for excelling in all pictorial genres, including religious painting, as you can see from this composition illustrating the miracle of Saint Justus.
According to the list of martyred saints recognised by the church in the Martyrologium Romanum, Saint Justus of Beauvais was decapitated at the age of nine for having refused to reveal where his father and uncle were hiding during the persecution of the Christians under Diocletian. Rubens has chosen to depict the moment the miracle takes place, the second in which the boy’s family come out of hiding and see him carrying his own head – a head continuing to proclaim its Christian faith!
The amazed looks and gestures confirm the indispensible divine intervention and the young man’s status as a martyr. A true reflection of the cult of saints encouraged by the Catholic Reform, this work was commissioned in 1629 by Balthasar II Moretus to decorate a church in Antwerp housing the relics of the head of Saint Justus.
