ZURBARÁN, Francisco de
(b. 1598, Fuente de Cantos, d. 1664, Madrid)

The Vision of St Peter of Nolasco

1629
Oil on canvas, 179 x 223 cm
Museo del Prado, Madrid

The painting and its companion-piece was commissioned by the Mercedarian Monastery in Seville shortly after the canonization of Pedro Nolasco who four centuries before established a lay Order for freeing the Christians from Moorish captivity.

In his vision Peter of Nolasco, in the white robe of his Order, sees the New Jerusalem showing by an angel. The heavenly city with its tower resembles to contemporary Ávila.