Saint Augustine in Ecstasy

Bartolomé Estebán Murillo

1665-75

Oil on canvas

Seattle Art Museum

Saint Augustine kneels in prayer, experiencing a vision of a flaming heart and a Latin inscription, as depicted by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo. Saint Augustine kneels in prayer, experiencing a vision of a flaming heart and a Latin inscription, as depicted by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo. Direct experience of God is a common theme in 17th-century Spanish art. Here Saint Augustine, one of the Fathers of the Church, has put aside his bishop’s crozier and miter to kneel in prayer. Books, including his most famous work, The City of God, are strewn on the floor. His fervent contemplation is rewarded by the vision of a flaming heart, symbolic of religious fervor and God’s love, surrounded by a Latin inscription which translates “My heart is restless until it comes to you.” Murillo in