Sevillian school; second half of the XVII century.

Sevillian school; second half of the seventeenth century.
"St. Paul.
Oil on canvas.
Measurements: 49 x 40 cm; 98 x 89 cm (frame).
The figure of the apostle has been captured without any detail that distracts the viewer, except for the sword typical of his iconography, so that the protagonist rises imposing over the darkness of the background. The harshness and drama of the work, link this religious portrait with the work of Valdés Leal. The work of Valdés Leal is quite varied and is in line with the painting that was done in his environment. We do not know at what date he moved to Cordoba, although it is likely that he had already received his first artistic training in his native city. It has been speculated that he was close to the workshop of Herrera el Viejo, and also to the art of the Cordovan Antonio del Castillo, as possible influences for his first known signed and dated work, the San Andrés de la iglesia de San Francisco de Córdoba, from 1647. In it he combined with visible success the monumentality of the figure of the saint with a naturalistic approach. In 1656 he settled in Seville, where he spent most of his life. In 1660 he was one of the founders of the Academy of Drawing, of which he became president in 1663. The following year Palomino established his trip to the court and to El Escorial, a journey that can still be understood as an apprenticeship, driven by his eagerness to know the works of the great masters present in the royal collections.
St. Paul was a Hellenized Jew of the Diaspora, born in Tarsus. He was, therefore, Jewish by ethnicity, Greek by culture and Roman by nationality. He received the name Saul, which he changed to Paul after his conversion. Born at the beginning of the first century, he studied in Jerusalem with Rabbi Gamaliel, who was noted for his opposition to the Christians. One day, around the year 35, when he was on his way from Jerusalem to Damascus, he was dazzled by lightning and fell from his horse. Then he heard the voice of Jesus saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?". As a result of this experience, the saint went abruptly from persecutor to defender of Christianity.