The most famous image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was depicted by the famous artist Pompeo Batoni (1708-1787). He was born in Lucca in 1708 and his father was a skilled goldsmith who imposed the family trade on his son. As a youth, Batoni was known for his ability to engraving and decoration of precious metals. Later, at the age of 19, he left his father’s workplace for learning the art of painting in Rome. Once in the Eternal City, the young painter became fascinated with the antique sculptures in and around the Vatican and the frescos by Raphael and Annibale Carracci. Batoni soon became famous for his ability to copy classical sculptures. Amongst Batoni’s works are some notable portraits that are notable for outlandish hairstyles and impassable compositions, but especially for the psychological penetration of the character and the delicacy of the complexion.
Amongst his most well-known works are the portraits are Emperor Joseph II of Austria and Pope Pius VI.
In 1760 Batoni realized the painting of the Sacred Heart of Jesus that was placed in a Chapel in the Jesuit Church of the Gesù in Rome. This work became the official image for the popular devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
The painting of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was inspired by the apparition of Jesus, under the title of the Sacred Heart, to St Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690). In 1673 on the Feast of St. John the Evangelist Our Lord appeared to St. Margaret Mary, while she was in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. The saint describes His Sacred Heart with the following words: “The Divine Heart was presented to me in a throne of flames, more resplendent than a sun, transparent as crystal, with this adorable wound. And it was surrounded with a crown of thorns, signifying the punctures made in it by our sins, and a cross above signifying that from the first instant of His Incarnation, […] the cross was implanted into it […].”
Batoni represented Christ dressed in a red tunic (which is the color of blood, of martyrdom and humanity) and a blue mantle (the color of heaven and of the divine). In the masterpiece of his work, Jesus is young and beautiful with long hair falling down to his shoulders. Christ’s face has a short beard whilst his right hand indicates to His inflamed heart which is crowned with thorns with a cross on the top.
St Margaret’s account continues with the words that Jesus said to her, “My Divine Heart is so inflamed with love for men, and for thee in particular that, being unable any longer to contain within Itself the flames of Its burning charity, It needs to spread them abroad by thy means, and manifest itself to them (mankind) in order to enrich them with the precious treasures which I reveal to thee, and together with graces of sanctification and salvation necessary to withdraw them from the abyss of perdition. I have chosen thee as an abyss of unworthiness and ignorance for the accomplishment of this great design, in order that everything may be done by Me.” Jesus asked Margaret to place her head on His breast asking her to give Him the gift of her small heart to be placed in the furnace of His Divine Heart, before returning to her inflamed by His love.
The artist’s skill in painting was able to make Jesus’ gaze penetrate the observer of the piece, and His right-hand invites those who look upon the piece to place their head on Jesus’ breast, in the same manner as St John the Evangelist and St Margaret Mary did.