São Cristóvão

In the 1400s people believed that anyone who looked on an image of Saint Christopher would be safe from sudden death for the rest of that day, so his picture was painted everywhere, on church walls and small panels people could keep close. This one, made around 1450 by an unknown painter, copies a lost original by Jan van Eyck. The saint was said to be a giant who carried travellers across a river, and here he wades through the water with a staff, the Christ child heavy on his shoulder. Everything is tiny and exact, the ripples, the distant town, the folds of his red cloak, in the jewel-like manner van Eyck had made famous in Bruges. The child raises one hand in blessing as the giant strains under the weight.