Pedro de Orrente

PEDRO DE ORRENTE (Murcia, 1580 - Valencia, 1645).
"Portrait of a gentleman.
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Measurements: 79 x 66,5 cm; 97 x 89,5 cm (frame).
Portrait of gentleman of long bust, of great sobriety, with a neutral bottom plunged in the penumbra on which the face stands out, directly illuminated by a warm light, harnessed by the great ruff of his neck. It stands out from his bearded face, as well as the depth of the gaze, which brings maturity to the character. In short, the work shows a realism of the face in which the skill and virtuosity of the author manages to bring a great verisimilitude to the physiognomy of the character. The work with the black, the ruff, and the position of the hand show us that this is the representation of a man of high status, perhaps a minister, and his gesture, with his hand on his chest, is a sign of self-affirmation. Returning to the modeling of the face, it is worth noting the similarities with the self-portrait of Pedro Orrente, belonging to the collection of the Prado Museum. In the words of Don José Gómez Frechina "Of the production of easel portraits by Pedro de Orrente (1580-1645) only his Self-Portrait is known, mentioned in 1866 in the collection of the Dukes of Montpensier and donated by Basilio Alexiades Thymanakis -in 1975- to the Museo Nacional del Prado",
Known as "the Spanish Bassano", Pedro Orrente was an artist of great success in his time, admired as a follower of the formulas of the famous family of artists of Venice, especially in the realization of series of Old Testament themes set in lush landscapes. He lived in several Spanish cities, moving at a very young age from his native Murcia to Toledo, where he was already in 1600. If the fame of the Bassano's works was enormous throughout Spain, the climate in the Castilian city must have been especially receptive to his painting, as evidenced by the works of the best masters who worked there. It is not surprising, therefore, that Orrente, who shortly afterwards would travel to Italy, went to Venice, where we find him as early as 1605. It is quite reasonable to think that he passed through the workshop of Leandro Bassano, whom Jusepe Martínez catalogued as his master. In 1607 he is already back in Spain, installed in Murcia. He continued to visit other Spanish cities, especially Toledo and Valencia, although he must have also spent time in Madrid. During his stay in Venice, he must not only have learned the pictorial manners of the Bassano family, but he would also assume their conception of painting as a market-oriented activity. In this sense, the treatment of sacred themes as genre scenes will be fundamental. These were, above all, lively series of biblical stories with which fans could be flattered by the variety and dynamism of the works, populated by a large number of characters set in landscapes, and accompanied by all kinds of animals and everyday objects. Works by Pedro Orrente are currently kept in the Prado Museum, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Fine Arts Museums of Bilbao and Valencia and the National Gallery of Denmark, among many others.