Scipione Pulzone Circle

Circle of SCIPIONE PULZONE "Il Gaetano" (Gaeta, 1544 - Rome, 1598).
"Saint Veronica with the shroud of Jesus".
Oil on copper.
Measurements: 30 x 22 cm; 54 x 46 cm (frame).

The image of Veronica holding the shroud of Jesus, known as the Holy Face or Veronica, is an iconic representation of the Passion of Christ. As on this occasion, Veronica is usually depicted holding the cloth (the shroud or veil) with both hands, at chest level or slightly extended. Her face reflects the serenity or sadness of the moment. The image symbolizes the unconditional love and mercy of Veronica, the only one who dared to approach Jesus to comfort him on his way to Calvary. It is also a representation of the authenticity of Christ's face, since the cloth is, according to tradition, a portrait not made by human hands.

From its workmanship, this copper may have been made by an artist close to the circle of Scipione Pulzone, one of the most important painters in Rome at the end of the 16th century, in the midst of the Counter-Reformation. His precise and defined drawing is heir to the tradition of Raphael. This is revealed in an extremely polished and enameled pictorial surface finish, where the brushstroke is almost invisible.

Sicipione Pulzone began his artistic training as a pupil of Jacopino del Conte, although he soon preferred to take personalities such as Girolamo Muziano or Siciolante as references for his art. His taste for descriptive effects led him to study Flemish and Venetian models, from which he extracted a rich palette of colors. However, it was in Raphael where he found his greatest influence reflected in the use of defined contours and schematic clarity. His art recalls above all the earliest Raphael, the one that refers us to the style of a Perugino or a Domenico Ghirlandaio. That is why his art is largely revisionist, since his sources are not to be found in his immediate predecessors, but in the great masters of the late Quattrocento. In 1584 Pulzone traveled to Naples and Florence. In the latter city he came into contact with local artists of a similar sensibility to his own. Pulzone is the archetype of counter-mannerist art. He was primarily a portrait painter and his works submissively followed the dictates of the Roman Church: he tried to transmit simple emotions, within the reach of the simplest of spectators, with a didactic intention and sometimes, with an almost artisanal air, which prioritizes art as a vehicle to transmit an idea, in this case of a religious type, rather than seeking beauty, the artist's showcasing or the assumption of artistic challenges.