Madrid school, possibly Sebastián Muñoz; second half of the 17th century.

Madrid school, possibly SEBASTIÁN MUÑOZ (Toledo, 1654/1657-Madrid, 1690); second half of the seventeenth century.
"Virgin of Solitude.
Oil on canvas.
Presents numerous restorations.
Measurements: 128 x 63 cm; 130 x 66 cm (frame).
The present Virgin of Solitude, ascribed to the Madrid school of the second half of the seventeenth century and related to the circle of Sebastián Muñoz, is a delicate example of Spanish Baroque devotional painting. The composition, of vertical format and dark neutral background, concentrates all the attention on the isolated figure of Mary, represented half-length and enveloped in an atmosphere of deep spiritual recollection. The austere scenography and the absence of narrative elements intensify the meditative character of the image, conceived to arouse an intimate experience of contemplation and piety.
Our Lady of Solitude is one of the iconographic variants derived from the advocation of Our Lady of Sorrows, especially linked to the last of the Seven Sorrows of the Virgin: the solitude of Mary after the death of Christ. Although this iconography reached a fully Spanish formulation from the famous model created by Gaspar Becerra for the convent of La Victoria in Madrid, its origin is related to the European expansion of the cult of Marian sorrow promoted by the Servite order. Since then, the representation of the Virgin alone, dressed in mourning and submerged in silent pain, became one of the most widespread and emotional devotional images of the Hispanic Baroque.
Due to its formal characteristics, the painting can be related to the environment of Sebastián Muñoz, an artist initially trained with Hipólito de Torres and later active in Madrid under the influence of Claudio Coello and Italian classicism learned during his stay in Rome with Carlo Maratta. His painting knew how to integrate the courtly solemnity of Madrid with a softer and more elegant sensibility of Italian roots, visible in the delicacy of the faces and in the compositional harmony of his religious works.