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

Saint James of the Marches

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Oil on canvas, 291 x 165 cm
Museo del Prado, Madrid

Saint James of the Marches (1391-1476) (Italian: Giacomo della Marca, Spanish: San Jacobo de la Marca) was an Italian Franciscan Friar Minor, preacher and writer. He is generally represented holding in his hand a chalice, out of which a snake is escaping - an allusion to some endeavours of heretics to poison him. In Zurvarán's painting the snake is not present.