# Miracle of St Ildefonsus [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [VALDÉS LEAL, Juan de]() - Date: 1651-1700 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 270 x 250 cm ## Commentary This painting is an example of Valdés Leal's weird, ecstatic style. St Ildephonsus, a seventh-century archbishop of Toledo, wrote an important treatise defending the purity of the Virgin, who, as a reward for his devotion, presented him with a priestly vestment. In this high-strung version of the miracle, Valdés allows his imagination to run riot. Under the chill glare of an unreal light, the gaunt, hollow-cheeked St Ildephonsus rapturously fingers the vestment that falls in a cascade onto his face. Every inch of the canvas is crowded with frenetic activity, as putti fill the sky and angels jockey for position around the enthroned Virgin Mary. In a surprising and shocking change of mood, three putti in the foreground struggle for possession of the archbishop's crozier. ## Related artworks - [Ascension of Elijah]() - [Assumption of the Virgin]() - [Carrying the Cross]() - [Ecce Homo]() - [Finis Gloriae Mundi]() - [Head of a Woman]() - [In Ictu Oculi]() - [Monument to St Ferdinand]() - [St Jerome]() - [The Sacrifice of Isaac]() - [Virgin of the Immaculate Conception with Sts Andrew and John the Baptist]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()