Ars Gratia Artis

From its beginnings, the Jesuit order used, appreciated, and collected art and artifacts. Ignatius, himself severe, lavished money on the beautification of the Society's churches. He instinctively understood the persuasive power of art.

From their headquarters in Rome, across Europe, and in missions that spanned the globe, Jesuits commissioned and collected the best art they could obtain locally, and they exported and imported art across the seas. Ricci took Italian paintings to the court of the emperor of China, and Peter de Smet carried canvases and priceless globes across the ocean and North American continent to St. Louis. Jesuit engravings from China were the talk of Europe and the New World.

Most of the early society's collections have been dissolved or secularized, but many contemporary Jesuit institutions have embraced this tradition of gathering the best of our visual tradition, ever "for the greater glory of God and the good of souls."

—Fr. Thomas Lucas, SJ,
University of San Francisco

Antefix with a kneeling Kore (maiden)[above]
Etruscan, Late Archaic, ca. 500 BC
FORDHAM UNIVERSITY, BRONX

This antefix, or roof ornament, is among over 200 Greek, Roman, and Etruscan artifacts donated to Fordham by benefactor William D. Walsh and his wife, Jane

Mural in the renovated high school chapel at U of D High

St. Ignatius Loyola at Manresa
Nancy Carty McDevitt
UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT JESUIT HIGH SCHOOL AND ACADEMY

This is one of two murals depicting scenes from Ignatius's life by the artist for the high school's renovated chapel, constructed in the early 1930s. The chapel is dedicated to the Jesuit North American martyrs.

Le Replacant. Mongole
(The Substitute. Mongol)
Paul Jacoulet (1902-1960)

French-born printmaker Jacoulet was heavily influenced by the art of the Japanese woodblock print. He used lacquers, powdered stone, and metal pigments in his work. The model was a Chinese girl living in Seoul who had recently lost a baby.

Portrait of Bishop Benedict Joseph Fenwick, SJ
James Bowman (1793-1842)
COLLEGE OF THE HOLY CROSS, WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS

This oil on canvas depicts the Jesuit who founded the College of the Holy Cross in 1843. Fenwick, a graduate of Georgetown, later served as Georgetown's president and then as Boston's second bishop.

Coca-Cola and Grid
Jasper Johns (1930- )
SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY

Among the Saint Louis University Museum of Art's significant collection of works on paper is this lithograph, a gift of former senator Thomas Eagleton and his wife, Barbara. The artist had a heavy influence on pop art and minimalism.

Jasper Johns lithograph owned by Saint Louis University

St. Francis Xavier
Ustinian Tilov (1948- )
CALIFORNIA PROVINCE SOCIETY OF JESUS, LOS GATOS

Bulgarian artist Tilov was commissioned by the California Province to create this icon of Francis Xavier and others of Ignatius Loyola, Pedro Arrupe, Robert Bellarmine, Eusebio Kino, and Peter Faber.

One of a set of icons commissioned by the California province

Late 20th century composition at Strake Jesuit, Houston

Too Good for the Royals, 2005
Julian Schnabel (1951- )
STRAKE JESUIT COLLEGE PREP, HOUSTON

Painter and filmmaker Julian Schnabel's 156" x 108" composition of enamel, gesso, resin, and canvas on stained tarp is on loan to Strake Jesuit.

Seventeeth century Peruvian painting of Jesuit saints

Madonna and Child with Sts. Francis Xavier, Ignatius Loyola, Peter Faber, and Aloysius Gonzaga
Peruvian, seventeenth century
LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO

The Incan-inspired feather and plant motifs in the Virgin's gown exemplify the fusion of European and indigenous Latin American art during the colonial period in this oil on canvas.

Pedro Arrupe, SJ
Brian Hanlon (1961- )
ARRUPE JESUIT HIGH SCHOOL, DENVER

This statue of Jesuit superior general Pedro Arrupe (1907-1991) was installed at Arrupe Jesuit High this summer. Sculptor Hanlon has also created works for Saint Peter's College and the College of the Holy Cross.

Portrait of Three Children as Ceres, Ganymede, and Diana
Nicholas Maes (1634-1693)
MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY, MILWAUKEE

Marquette's Haggerty Museum of Art acquired this seventeenth-century painting by Rembrandt student Nicolas Maes in 2005. The mythological subject matter contrasts with biblical subjects associated with the Dutch painters of the time.

Painting in Marquette's Haggerty Museum of Art

Hydria, Apulia, South Italy
Baltimore Painter, ca. 330 BC
LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY, LOS ANGELES

This water vessel, over two feet tall, is the creation of an ancient artist whose major known work is a volute crater in Baltimore. This was a donation of the Fayez Barakat Family, Nelly and Jim Kilroy, the Devere Foundation, and Denise Richards.