Why did the saints of Zurbarán read?

Abstract

The article analyzes the iconography related to five saints who carry books in their images, treated as “reading saints”, which are part of the collection of pictures of eight virgin martyrs existing in the Museum of Fine Arts in Seville. On a specific plane, the representation of the saints with a book in their hands is problematized, which differs from the original iconographic image, the narrative of the life and miracles of each one. The methodological procedures refer to documentary research, whose main sources are concentrated in the five canvases of the collection, elaborated in the studio of the painter Francisco de Zurbarán, and in the dialogue with authors who write on the subject. It concludes with the hypothesis that by painting the image of the virgin martyrs carrying a book, Zurbarán intended to pass on a message to the women of encouragement to a life like that of the saints, but also warning of the possibility of reading the bible, hagiology and the permitted readings, that is, above all, inciting the idea that they were readers.