Madrid School; XVII century.

Madrid School; XVII century.
"Virgin of Solitude".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Measurements: 120 x 98 cm.
Inscribed between two curtains shows the Virgin, devout, with her hands on her chest, in prayerful attitude, and tears in her eyes. The theatricality of the scene, denoted by the curtains that frame the scene as a stage, added to the sobriety of the rest of the elements that is marked by the colors, black and white, or the strict symmetry, make this image a devotional scene that tries to touch the faithful and teach them about the Christian doctrine. Showing a suffering mother, who cries, but still keeps her hieratic, peaceful and immutable face. Our Lady of Solitude is a variant of advocation of the Virgin Mary of the title of Our Lady of Sorrows. Although the model instituted by Gaspar Becerra in his Virgen de la Soledad del convento de la Victoria gave rise to a characteristic and "uniquely Spanish" iconography of this advocation that spread throughout the Christian world, it has its roots in the spread throughout Europe, thanks especially to the Servites, the cult of Our Lady of Sorrows, since the Solitude of Mary is the last of the Seven Sorrows of the Virgin Mary. The Virgen de la Paloma is a Marian devotion typical of the city of Madrid, and her image is in the center of the altarpiece of the parish of the Virgen de la Paloma and San Pedro el Real. According to the report written in 1791 by the mayor of Madrid, the Marquis of Casa García Postigo, the canvas, a representation of Our Lady of Solitude, was found or given to some children in a lot adjacent to the street of La Paloma, in 1787. The work was then recovered by Isabel Tintero, who cleaned and framed it, placing it in the doorway of her house. Several miracles were soon attributed to the image, so its cult spread rapidly, and in 1795 a chapel was built to house it. The one we present here is a faithful copy, although partial, of the original canvas, which shows Mary with a gesture of pain, dressed in mourning and adorned with a silver crown.