Hispano-American or Spanish School. XVIII century.

Hispano-American or Spanish school. XVIII Century.
"Christ with the Dove of the Faithful Soul".
Oil on canvas.
Presents restorations. With patch on the back.
Measurements: 82 x 63 cm, 90 x 70,50 cm (frame).

The painting represents Christ half naked, crowned with thorns, showing the wounds of the Passion. In the center of the composition, a white dove perches on his chest and drinks from the wound in his side, from which blood flows. At his feet is a poster or phylactery with an inscription in Latin or archaic Castilian, partially legible, that invokes "my dove soul", an expression of strong mystical resonance. Christ appears frontal, with his gaze directed towards the spectator, in an attitude of recollection and loving surrender. The tenebrist lighting highlights the modeling of the face and torso, leaving the background in semi-darkness. The warm tones of the body contrast with the resplendent whiteness of the dove, which becomes the symbolic focus of the scene.

The image corresponds to a devotional variant known as "Christ of the Faithful Soul" or "Christ and the dove-soul", very widespread in the Hispanic sphere during the XVII and XVIII centuries, especially in convent art and Novo-Hispanic painting. The dove represents the believing soul or the soul-bride, inspired by the texts of the Song of Songs ("My dove, you nest in the crevices of the rock..."). In this iconography, the soul comes to drink from the wound of Christ, symbol of His love and redemption, to unite mystically with Him.
The motif is closely related to the mystical spirituality of the Golden Age and to authors such as Saint Teresa of Jesus or Saint John of the Cross, where the soul is represented as a dove seeking refuge in the divine Beloved. The theme of "Christ with the dove" synthesizes in a visual way the mystical doctrine of the union of the soul with Christ. Blood, love and purity (represented by the white dove) converge in an image of deep symbolic and affective charge, destined to move devotion more than to narrate a concrete biblical episode.

The work is part of the late Baroque tradition of the 18th century, with a strong influence of the tenebrism inherited from Ribera and Zurbarán. The chiaroscuro accentuates the emotional and devotional dimension, typical of Counter-Reformation art, oriented towards intimate meditation and the identification of the faithful with the suffering of Christ.