Spanish school; early 17th century.

Spanish school; early seventeenth century.
"Scene of conquest".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Presents faults and restorations.
Measurements: 99 x 72 cm.
This painting represents an intense "Scene of conquest", framed within the baroque tradition that, influenced by the dramatism of the historical moment, frequently resorted to themes of violence, exoticism and cultural confrontation. In the foreground, two male figures with energetic faces and aggressive gestures, dressed in turbans and oriental clothing, physically harass a young woman, whom they try to stab.
The background repeats, in depth, similar scenes of siege and conflict, multiplying the effect of violence and chaos. These figures, small but active, reinforce the idea of a generalized seizure, beyond a single episode, alluding to a context of invasion or confrontation between cultures.
Spanish Baroque painting is one of the most authentic and personal examples of our art, because its conception and its form of expression emerged from the people and the deepest feelings that nestled in it. With the economy of the State broken, the nobility in decline and the high clergy burdened with heavy taxes, it was the monasteries, the parishes and the confraternities of clerics and laymen who promoted its development, the works sometimes being financed by popular subscription. Painting was thus forced to capture the prevailing ideals in these environments, which were none other than religious ones, at a time when the Counter-Reformation doctrine demanded from art a realistic language so that the faithful would understand and identify with what was represented, and an expression endowed with an intense emotional content to increase the fervor and devotion of the people. The religious subject is, therefore, the preferred theme of Spanish painting of this period, which in the first decades of the century began with a priority interest in capturing the natural, to progressively intensify throughout the century the expression of expressive values.