Circle of Mateo Cerezo; second third of the XVII century.

Circle of MATEO CEREZO (Burgos, 1637-Madrid, 1666), second third of the seventeenth century.
"Dolorosa".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Measurements: 54 x 49 cm; 94 x 80 cm (frame).
The work shows the Virgin, half-length, with her face raised and her gaze directed towards the sky, a gesture that denotes a deep expression of resigned and spiritual pain. The figure, identifiable as the Virgin Mary in her iconography of "Dolorosa", wears a dark mantle that partially covers her hair and falls in soft folds, accentuating the drama of the scene. Under the mantle, a reddish dress and a white inner tunic can be seen, details that reinforce the sacred dimension of the figure.
The Virgin's hands are expressively positioned: the right hand rests on her chest, in a gesture of affliction and recollection, while the left hand is subtly raised with an open palm, indicating supplication or acceptance of suffering. The tenebrist lighting, with strong contrast between light and shadow, highlights the volumes of the face, hands and drapery, leaving the background in semi-darkness, a very characteristic resource of the Spanish Baroque.
The work shows a clear influence of the Madrid baroque school, and in particular the style developed by Mateo Cerezo, a disciple of Juan Carreño de Miranda and one of the most outstanding exponents of the Spanish religious baroque of the second half of the 17th century. The delicate treatment of the face, with soft shades and contained emotionality, is characteristic of Cerezo. The chromatic palette, dominated by warm tones in contrast with the dark background, together with the mastery in the handling of chiaroscuro, reinforce this attribution.
The oval face, the expressive melancholy and the careful attention to anatomical details, especially in the hands, are common features in other known works by Cerezo, such as The Penitent Magdalene or St. Francis in meditation.
This painting from the circle of Mateo Cerezo is fully inscribed within the devotional and emotional context of the Spanish Baroque. Its remarkable technical quality, expressive intensity and dramatic use of light contribute to reaffirm the attribution to this master, whose production focused on the exaltation of religious sentiment through a sober, emotional and technically refined painting.

Mateo Cerezo was trained in Madrid, becoming part of Carreño's workshop. He was an artist in great demand by a varied clientele, especially for his religious painting, although he also tackled other genres. In this sense, the treatise writer and biographer Palomino declared the excellence with which he painted "bodegoncillos, with such superior excellence, that no one surpassed him", a judgment fully corroborated when contemplating the works in the National Museum of San Carlos in Mexico, which are signed and dated. Based on them, Perez Sanchez attributed to him the still life of kitchen bought by the Prado Museum in 1970, a work of obvious Flemish influence that, at times, has led to think of Pereda. The works of this artist from Valladolid have also been pointed out as Cerezo's ancestors, especially in his early creations. We know that in 1659 Cerezo was working in Valladolid, where he left works that were somewhat rougher than those he produced in the following decade. In his works he affirms himself as a faithful follower of Carreño, of whom he became one of his best collaborators. The master showed him the path he himself later followed, following the path of Van Dyck and Titian. Thus, Cerezo develops compositions that open up in wide and complex scenographies, conceived with a distinguished refinement, which is manifested both in the work as a whole and in the smallest details. Like the master of Antwerp, he endows his characters with a rich magnificence in their clothing, applying a fluid and light brushstroke, contrasted by a rich play of light. A superb example of all this is the canvas The Mystical Betrothal of St. Catherine in the Prado, signed and dated 1660.