Spanish school; early 17th century.

Spanish school; beginning of the XVII century.
"Saint Mary Egyptian".
Oil on canvas.
Preserves original canvas.
Measurements: 100 x 146 cm.
Devotional work starring the hermit saint María Egipcíaca retired to pray in the middle of nature. The figure of great volumetrics fills the left zone of the scene, praying on her knees in front of a crucifix that is strictly located in the center of the composition. The rest is a display of lush vegetation, with a landscape of architecture outlined in the right area of the image, which brings great depth to the work. Saint Mary Egyptian purges her sins as a former prostitute and is offered to us in profile, mystical, dressed in the coat formed by her own hair of ashes.
It is a painting that shows a great quality of drawing, firm and delicate, of elegant forms and softened by a very nuanced color, rich in glazes and soft gradations. At the expressive level, the beauty and emotion of the saint is especially outstanding.
Saint Mary Egyptian (ca. 344- ca. 421) is venerated as the patron saint of penitent women, especially in the Coptic Church, but also in the Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican Churches. The main source of information about her is the "Vita" written by Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, in the 6th century. She was born in Egypt, and at the age of twelve she went to Alexandria, where she led a dissolute life, dedicating herself according to some authors to prostitution. Nevertheless, Sophronius states that she often refused to accept the money offered for her sexual favors, driven only by "an insatiable desire and an irrepressible passion". After seventeen years, Mary traveled to Jerusalem on the occasion of the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, moved by the desire to meet lustful pilgrims. There, however, when she tried to enter the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, an invisible force prevented her from doing so.