Sevillian school of the late 17th century

Sevillian school; late seventeenth century.
"Death and glorification of Santa Clara".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Presents faults and restorations.
Measurements: 107 x 181 cm; 127 x 207 cm (frame).
This painting reproduces the model created by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo known as "The Death of Santa Clara" (1646), an outstanding Baroque work made for the small cloister of the Convent of San Francisco in Seville. Murillo's original painting is currently preserved in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister. Conceived in a classical and traditional manner, the author of this work shows the religious procession around Saint Clare, who is in bed with the crucifix on her breast. The multitude of characters is arranged by the author as a frieze, so that the visual reading is easier. In addition, to facilitate the understanding of the image, the painter also uses color, combining cold tones on the left and warm tones on the right. A choice that is not only technical, but also symbolic, since he uses the range of grays and blacks to represent the religious linked to the earthly world, while he reserves the bright colors for the heavenly cortege, starring the presence of Christ and the Virgin, who extend their arms to welcome the saint in eternal life.

The intention of these works was to move the public, to encourage pious acts and, at the same time, to perpetuate the memory of a reference of holiness, thus creating a whole devotional tradition. Saint Clare of Assisi, born in 1194 into a noble Italian family, was a disciple of Saint Francis of Assisi and founder of the Order of the Poor Clares. She renounced her privileges to lead a life of poverty, prayer and recollection. Her figure reached an enormous diffusion during the Modern Age, becoming an example of humility and spiritual surrender.

The 17th century marked the arrival of the Baroque in the Sevillian school, with the triumph of naturalism over Mannerist idealism, loose workmanship and numerous aesthetic liberties. At this time the school reached its greatest splendor, both for the quality of the works and for the primordial rank of Sevillian Baroque painting. Thus, during the transition to Baroque we find Juan del Castillo, Antonio Mohedano and Francisco Herrera el Viejo, in whose works the rapid brushstroke and the crude realism of the style are already manifested, as well as Juan de Roelas, introducer of Venetian colorism. In the middle of the century, the period reached its peak, with figures such as Francisco de Zurbarán, a young Alonso Cano and Diego Velázquez. Finally, in the last third of the century we find Murillo and Juan de Valdés Leal, founders in 1660 of an Academy where many of the painters active during the first quarter of the 18th century, such as Meneses Osorio, Sebastián Gómez, Lucas Valdés and others, were trained.