This rare oil on copper painting, probably produced as a devotional representation in a major Iberian workshop, depicts the martyrdom of three Jesuit Priests in late 16th century Japan. Of fine quality and defined by firm and fast brushstrokes and vibrant colours, it accurately replicates a contemporary print by the renowned Netherlandish engraver Schelte Adamsz. Bolswert (1586-1659), active in Amsterdam, Haarlem and Antwerp, after a drawing by the artist Abraham van Diepenbeeck (1596-1675), a pupil of Pieter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) in Antwerp. A copy of such print, engraved between 1627, the year of the Martyr’s beatification, and 1654, since that in his five final years Bolswert engraved exclusively for Rubens, belongs to the Rijksmuseum collection, in Amsterdam (inv. RP-P-BI-2563).

Of the twenty-six Martyrs (Nihon Nijūroku Seijin in Japanese) executed by crucifixion in Nagasaki, a Japanese Catholic stronghold, on February 5th, 1597, mostly Franciscans Friars, the artist singled out the martyrdom scene of the three local Jesuit Priests. Of these, Paulo Miki, or Pauro Miki in Japanese, born near Osaka into a wealthy Japanese family in 1564, and educated at the Azuchi and Takatsuki Jesuit Seminaries, was a respected preacher credited with many Buddhist conversions, and the most celebrated of the whole group, which is listed in the General Roman calendar as Paulo Miki and Companions. The two other martyred Jesuits were Diego Kisai (b. 1533), formerly Ichikawa Kisaemon, and João Soan of Gotō (b. 1578), born of Christian parents in one of the Gotō archipelago islands.

Once arrested, the three had their left earlobes cut off, and were forced to walk the six hundred miles between Miyako, present day Kyoto, and Nagasaki. While martyred by having his chest stabbed by a spear, Miki preached his last sermon from the cross and forgave his executioners. Together with their twenty-three companions, the three Jesuits were beatified on September 14th, 1627, by Pope Urban VIII (r. 1623-1644), and canonised on June 8th, 1862, by Pope Pius IX (r. 1846-1878)[1].

The painting, identically to the printed prototype, illustrates the moment in which Miki, to the right of the painting and already crucified, has his chest stabbed by the soldier’s spear, as Christ himself had been by the roman soldier Longinus; Kisai, to the left background, is lifted on his cross; and Soan, to the left, still beardless, is being knocked down by a soldier to be tied to his. The composition is surmounted by hovering angels carried by clouds, which crown Miki, the greatest hero of Japan’s first Christian century, with a laurel wreath.

            With evident intentionality, the painter departs from the printed composition by omitting the laurel wreaths destined to Kisai and Soan, the palm that the first angel presents to Miki, and both the soldiers and the ropes that lift the crucified Kisai. These particularities reinforce the predominance attributed to Miki, eminent preacher who died on the cross aged thirty-three.

            A rare and powerful subject in the history of missionary activity in Asia, and of Jesuit presence in Japan, this painting is an exceptional testimony to the persecution of Japanese Catholics and their growing social and political relevance, to the antagonism of the local Buddhist authorities, and to the European devotion for these Christian Martyrs from faraway lands.