Andalusian school; second half of the XVII century.

Andalusian school; second half of the seventeenth century.
"Lamentation over the body of Christ".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Measurements: 94 x 147 cm; 110 x 160 cm (frame).
In this work of landscape format, the author represents the theme of the Lamentation of Christ, placing the Virgin and the body of Christ in the center of a triangular composition. The scene is organized around a vertical axis marked by the Virgin's face and prolonged by the figure of Christ. The body of Christ is treated with great anatomical precision, in a clearly classicist language that suggests a direct observation of nature. In contrast, the attitudes of the rest of the figures reinforce the drama of the scene through a certain expressive theatricality. The whole composition takes place in an atmosphere of strong penumbra, where the darkness accentuates the dramatic character of the episode and allows the light to appear to emerge in an almost unreal way from the bodies, especially that of Christ and Nicodemus, the latter dressed in a red tunic that introduces a warm chromatic accent in the scene.From the iconographic point of view, the work is located at an intermediate point between the traditional representation of the Pietà and the scene of the Burial of Christ, which is evidence of a personal and narrative interpretation by the artist, which expands the conventional limits of the theme. The iconography of the Pietà has developed over several centuries, and according to Erwin Panofsky, has its origins in the Byzantine theme of the Threnos, that is, the lament of the Virgin over the dead body of Christ, as well as in the iconography of the Virgin of Humility.
In the context of the 17th century, the Sevillian school experienced the full consolidation of the Baroque, characterized by the triumph of naturalism over Mannerist idealism, as well as by greater compositional and expressive freedom. This period coincides with the maximum artistic splendor of Seville, driven by its condition of great economic and port center thanks to the trade with America through the monopoly of the traffic of the Indies. This situation turned the city into one of the most dynamic and cosmopolitan cultural centers of Europe at the time, favoring the development of a painting of great technical, thematic and expressive richness.