The Heart of Jesus

The pictorial language used in these two allegorical works depicting the sacred hearts of the Virgin Mary and Jesus is reminiscent of the geometrical disposal of streets and bodies commonly found in baroque altarpieces. The compositional balance, the harmony of the positions of the heads and the contrast between the figures and the background make both pieces singular exemplars of devotional art. The Heart of Jesus refers to the eucharistic sacrament of the body and blood of Christ, and depicts a heart floating in mid-air surrounded by a crown of thorns, with a bleeding wound in it, a cross inserted in the upper part, and a communion wafer in the center where the crucified Christ is shown. The personages in the medallions on each side are Jesuit devotees of the Sacred Heart, Saint Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit Order, Saint Luis Gonzaga, Saint Philip Neri and Saint Francis Xavier. The Virgin Mary, accompanied by Saint John and Mary Magdalene, who are comforting Her, is depicted in the bottom part of the work. In The Heart of Mary, the artist depicts the Virgin as if She were a vessel full of white lilies berokening purity. The sacred recipient is pierced by a sword, symbolizing Her profound grief at the death of Her Son. The flames surrounding Her allude to love and are more intense than those in the The Heart of Jesus. The figure hovering above Mary's heart is the dove of the Holy Ghost, which is fervently observed by Jesus himself, accompanied by Saint Joachim and Saint Anne. The eight medallions which delimit the scene are framed by volutes and contain the likenesses of saints from the main female religious orders, such as Saint Catherine of Sienna, Saint Gertrude, Saint Theresa of Ávila, Saint Rosalia and Saint Rose of Lima, who seem to emerge from their ellipse shaped spaces thanks to the subtle haloes around their heads. The harmony of the primary colors, enriched by the earth-colored grays and browns, is characteristic of the colorist skill that Morlete displays in all his oeuvre. Both pieces passed to the MUNAL from the San Diego Viceregal Painting Gallery in the year 2000.