Label Type
Mystery MondayLabel
August is national dog month so let's celebrate our canine companions in this week’s Mystery Monday. Does anyone know the name of the Catholic patron saint of dogs as well as bachelors, invalids, and the falsely accused (busy guy)?
The answer is St. Roch, also spelled St. Rock (English), St. Roche (Latin), San Roque (Spanish), and San Rocco (Italian). According to legend, Roch was born in the late 13th century or early 14th century as the son of the governor of Montpellier in the south of France. He had a birthmark on his chest in the shape of a cross which inspired him to a life of piety and poverty. Following the deaths of his parents when he was a young adult, he gave up his wealth and power and instead went on a pilgrimage to Rome living as a mendicant monk, begging for food and shelter. While abroad, Roch performed miraculous acts of healing as he traveled. Eventually he also fell ill with the plague but was able to recover. He then returned to his home city but was mistaken as a spy. He spent the last five years of his life in prison, only recognized after his death when his birth mark was discovered. He was approximately thirty-two years old. Miracles of healing were recorded, and he was elevated to sainthood in the last decade of the 16th century. His feast day is August 16th so make sure to pet a dog next Wednesday in honor of St. Roch.
Here St. Roch is shown seated in a forest wearing the simple robes of a pilgrim. His bare right leg is extended, and he gestures towards a bubo, swollen lymph node, indicating he has contracted bubonic plague. According to legend, after catching the disease, Roch moved out into the woods to pray. A local dog brought him food and licked his wounds while he was ill. Divine light shines down on him from the heavens and a dog sits next to him holding a loaf of bread in his mouth.
We know this print is a copy of oil painting because there is a text register below the image written in Latin, the language of scholars in Europe since the Middle Ages. According to the text, the sitter is “St. Roch a most illustrious and perfect man” and was commissioned by the French art collector Everhard Jabach (1618-1695). The artist’s name is noted twice, once on the bottom left side of the image: S. Villequin, In. Pinx., literally “S. Villequin, he painted [it].” His full name, Stephanus Villequin, is also written in larger script on the bottom right of the sheet. Stephanus is the Latin translation of the French name Étienne. Étienne Villequin (1619-1688) was a painter who studied at the Academie royale de peinture et de sculpture. During his career, he often depicted religious scenes from the lives of Jesus and the saints, one of which is currently hanging in the Louvre. The engraver’s name is listed as J Boulanger followed by the Latin word fecit meaning “he made.” J Boulanger is Jean Boulanger (1608-ca. 1680), a well-regarded engraver from an artistic family. Finally, the phrase “cum Privilegio Regis” is printed in the center meaning with the king’s permission. This was a 17th century French form of copyright. A printmaker who wished to protect his intellectual, artistic property from forgery could request that the crown acknowledge the originality of the work. If it was granted, no other artist was allowed to copy it for twenty years.
This piece was donated to Purdue Galleries by the Art Museum of Greater Lafayette in 2021 and will be on display this fall in our exhibition of gifts from AMGL. Make sure to stop by and see it in person.
Artist: after Étienne Villequin (1619-1688), French
Jean Boulanger (1608-ca. 1680), French
Title: St. Roch and his Dog
Date: ca. 1670-1680
Medium: Ink on paper
Technique: Engraving
Accession number: 2021.05.9Label Type
Exhibition labelLabel
Jean Boulanger (1608-ca. 1680), French
after Étienne Villequin (1619-1688), French
Saint Roch and his Dog, ca. 1670-1680
Ink on paper engraving
Roch was a 14th century Catholic saint and healer. Born into a powerful family in southern France, he renounced all his wealth and lived his life as a wandering pilgrim. According to legend he could cure the Black Death. Eventually he also caught the disease and went into the woods. A local dog brought him food until he miraculously recovered. Here Roch is seated in the woods, gesturing towards a bubo, a swollen lymph node on his thigh. A dog sits next to him with a loaf of bread in his mouth and divine light streams down from the heaven. Works like this would have been personal devotional objects and purchased for and by people who were ill.