School of Bartolomé Esteban Murillo; XVIII century.

School of BARTOLOME ESTEBAN MURILLO (Seville, 1617 - 1682); XVIII century.
"Dolorosa".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
It has a frame of the nineteenth century.
Measurements: 72 x 60 cm; 86 x 61 cm (frame).
This painting is inspired by the work done by Murillo between 1660 and 1670, currently preserved in the Prado Museum. The devotion to the sorrows of the Virgin has its roots in medieval times, and was especially spread by the Servite order, founded in 1233. There are many and varied iconographic representations whose central theme is the Virgin Mary in her Sorrowful aspect, the first of them being those in which she appears next to the Child Jesus, who sleeps oblivious to the future of suffering that awaits him. In these works is usually present the cross, the main symbol of the Passion, embraced even by the Child, while Mary observes him with a pathetic expression. Another aspect is the one that is part of the Pietà, similar to the previous one, although her Son is here dead, not asleep, depicted as an adult and after his crucifixion. In the oldest representations of this theme, the body of Christ appears disproportionately small, as a symbol of the memory that the mother has of her Son's childhood, when she contemplated him asleep on her lap.