Jesus Heals the Nobleman’s Son in Capernaum (folio 70 recto), from a Mirror of Holiness (Mir’at al-quds) of Father Jerome Xavier (1602–4): Art, History and Details

Jesus Heals the Nobleman’s Son in Capernaum (folio 70 recto), from a Mirror of Holiness (Mir’at al-quds) of Father Jerome Xavier (1602–4) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The diminutive figure wearing green in the center of the composition is the young son of a nobleman who was dying. Jesus healed him from afar so quickly that the subsidiary figures at the periphery of the scene are still anxious and bringing pots of remedies. This painting is unfinished; the border of the carpet and the geometric tile patterns on the floor of the forecourt have not been painted. An unknown number of artists with different backgrounds, skills, and experience contributed to this project; this work appears to be by at least two different hands.

Object facts

• Title: Jesus Heals the Nobleman’s Son in Capernaum (folio 70 recto), from a Mirror of Holiness (Mir’at al-quds) of Father Jerome Xavier
• Date: 1602–4
• Culture: Mughal India, Allahabad, made for Prince Salim (1569–1627)
• Type: Manuscript
• Technique: Gum tempera, ink, color, and gold on paper
• Dimensions: Sheet: 26.2 x 15.5 cm (10 5/16 x 6 1/8 in.); Image: 22.4 x 11.2 cm (8 13/16 x 4 7/16 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 2005.145.70.a

A detail from the museum

The scene is placed within a traditional Mughal interior.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Carvalho, Pedro de Moura, and W. M. Thackston. Mirʼāt al-quds (Mirror of holiness): a life of Christ for Emperor Akbar: a commentary on Father Jerome Xavier's text and the miniatures of Cleveland Museum of Art, Acc. no. 2005.145. Leiden: Brill, 2012.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.