Valencian master of the 16th century

Valencian master of the 16th century
"The incredulity of Saint Thomas".
Oil on pine board.
Measurements: 83 x 80 cm; 130 x 124 cm (with frame).
It presents some polychrome losses.

During the 16th century, the Valencian school of painting experienced a period of stylistic transition, in which the echoes of the international Gothic were giving way to the influences of the Renaissance. Valencia, as a prosperous port city and a dynamic artistic center, was a key point for the reception of new currents coming from Northern Europe and Italy. Local artists began to show a growing interest in narrative verisimilitude, emotional expression and naturalism, without completely abandoning the symbolic elements of the Hispanic tradition.

This work, attributed to an anonymous master of the Valencian school of the 16th century, represents the Gospel passage known as The Unbelief of St. Thomas, taken from the Gospel of St. John. The scene shows the moment when the apostle Thomas touches the wound in the side of the risen Christ, after having refused to believe in his resurrection without first seeing it with his own eyes. It is a theme of strong theological and emotional charge, which appeals to the sensory experience as a way to faith, widely used in the devotional art of the Renaissance.
The composition, of octagonal format, presents Christ in the center, with a serene and majestic attitude, surrounded by the apostles in an expectant attitude. The chiaroscuro, the volumetric clothing and the frieze organization of the characters reveal an assimilation of both Flemish models, introduced in the peninsula by the court of the Catholic Monarchs, and the incipient Italian Renaissance influence, especially in the spatial conception and the anatomical study.

This type of religious scenes were generally destined to private oratories, convent chapels or secondary altarpieces, being key pieces in the construction of the personal devotional experience.