The Martyrdom of Saint Erasmus by Dieric Bouts

The Martyrdom of Saint Erasmus by Dieric Bouts

Calm in the face of horror

Saint Erasmus lies on a table while executioners turn a windlass — the instrument of his martyrdom, according to legend. It is one of the most gruesome subjects in Christian art, yet the atmosphere is perfectly calm. Erasmus looks out serenely, as if feeling nothing; the magistrate who ordered the torture stands quietly nearby in a jewelled costume; the executioners work without anger. Bouts shows the triumph of faith over suffering through complete stillness.

Saint Elmo

Erasmus, known in Italy as Saint Elmo, was a fourth-century bishop of Formia. He became patron of sailors — the windlass may first have been painted as the sign of that patronage, and only later read as the instrument of his martyrdom — and was invoked against abdominal pain; the electrical glow on ships’ masts in storms is still called Saint Elmo’s fire.

Saint Peter’s, Leuven

The altarpiece remains in Saint Peter’s Church in Leuven, together with Bouts’s Last Supper, the two great works he left to the city where he lived.

Where it hangs

The triptych is still in Saint Peter’s Church in Leuven.

About this print

Made from a 6,872-pixel photograph of the original, enough to print sharply at up to about 45 inches on its longest side.

Sources: Saint Peter’s Church, Leuven · Wikidata Q22262029 · Wikimedia Commons