3-098-330 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Saint Ambrose denies Theodosius entry to his Church, c1673. In the year 390 the Emperor Theodosius violently repressed the population of Thessaloniki, after which he returned to Milan where he was excommunicated by Saint Ambrose, who denied him entry to his church. Depicted here, this episode is representative of one of the issues present in the history of Christianity: the tension between religious and civil authority. One of a series on the life and miracles of Saint Ambrose, 4th-century Bishop of Milan and a Father of the Church, commissioned from Juan de Valdés Leal (1622-1690) by Ambrosio Ignacio Spínola y Guzmán (1632-1684), Archbishop of Seville, for his private oratory. They are markedly specular in nature given that the saint and archbishop share the same name, ecclesiastical rank and connections with northern Italy. The series was conceived by Spínola as a model of exemplary behaviour to the extent that the settings evoke the streets and churches of Seville and the saint's features are those of the archbishop.