Joanna de Chantal

The portrait of a saint, the founder of the Order of the Visitation, is a 19th century copy of a 17th century painting created in the circle of Philippe de Champaigne. The portrait shows a nun dressed in the religious garb of the Visitation Nuns, against a dark, neutral background. Joan de Chantal (born 1572 in Dijon, died 1641 in Moullins) was brought up by her nanny and father (her mother died when the saint was 2.5 years old) and she received a careful education. At the age of 20, she married Baron Christopher de Rebutin Chantal, with whom she had six children. In 1601, her husband was killed in a hunting accident, and Joanna moved with her children to her father’s home and devoted herself to raising her offspring. After a meeting with St Francis de Sales, who became her spiritual guide, she dedicated herself to serving the poor and needy. After her husband’s death, she took a vow of chastity. In 1610, she moved from Dijon to Annecy, where she and Francis de Sales founded the first convent of the new congregation, the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Visitation Sisters. She died while traveling in Moullins on 13 December 1641. She was counted among the blessed by Pope Benedict XIV and canonised by Pope Clement XIII in 1767. The upper right corner of the picture in Łańcut bears the date MDCXXXVI. Philippe de Champaigne (born 1602 in Brussels, died 1676 in Paris) was of Flemish origin, but is considered a French painter of the Baroque era. He was a court painter of Marie de’ Medici, Louis XIII and Cardinal Mazarin. His paintings are characterised by a lack of dynamics, static composition, realism in the portrayal of the subjects, and the use of cool, subdued colours (as in the painting from Łańcut). In his portraits, he applied a deep psychological analysis, faithfully reproduced the details of physiognomy, and depicted the figure itself against a neutral background, or against a curtain. In his religious paintings, which he liked to create, he tried to faithfully reproduce the biblical text. The Łańcut performance is accompanied by an inscription: “Veritable portrait de S te Jeanne Françoise de Chantal Fondatrice de l ordre de la Visitation”.