The Christian martial iconography

“Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11).

This biblical quote inspires many representations of virtuous “soldiers of Christ” (milites Christi). Indeed, martial iconography materialized the Christian spiritual fight against sin. One extreme image of such a “soldier” can be found in representations of martyrs. The instruments of martyrdom serve as means of identification for saints, by remembering the sufferings they endured for their faith.

Caravaggio depicted saint Catherine with her broken wheel and the sword of her execution. Yet, he painted a rapier, a sword used especially for fencing and duelling, not for beheading. At the time of the painting’s commission by the cardinal del Monte, Caravaggio was beginning to mingle with the higher circle of the Roman society. This representation indicated the status of the saint, supposedly a noblewoman from Alexandria, and maybe also Caravaggio’s ambition.

The representation of Joan of Arc, French female warrior of the fifteenth century is rarer. The scarcity of images is certainly due to her fame being mostly limited to France, and her late canonization (1920). However, the ground-breaking theme of a real woman in armour sparked the imagination of Peter Paul Rubens and his workshop. The female warrior is kneeling in full armour before a crucifix. Joan was charged with heresy and cross-dressing, challenging the social and religious conventions. But, the imagery of “God’s soldier” chosen by Rubens and his workshop reconciled the military fight and the spiritual battlefield.