Luis de Vargas

LUIS DE VARGAS (Almendralejo, 1505?- 1567)
"Resurrected Christ".
Oil on panel. Cradled.
Attached report of Don Enrique Valdivieso.
Measurements: 162 x 75 cm; 173 x 86 cm (frame).
This panel painting represents the culminating episode of the Resurrection of Christ and is a work fully inserted in the Sevillian school of the Renaissance, one of the most important artistic centers of sixteenth-century Spain. As Enrique Valdivieso González, professor of Art History at the University of Seville, points out, the work has clear stylistic, compositional and chromatic affinities with the production of Luis de Vargas (1505-1567), one of the introducers of Italian classicism in Seville after his long stay in Rome.
The composition, with a markedly vertical and elongated format, suggests that the panel was part of a narrative altarpiece dedicated to the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ, probably occupying one of the side streets, while the main scene would be located in the central body. The risen Christ stands as the visual and spiritual axis of the work, rising above the tomb with a solemn and triumphant attitude. His anatomy responds to an elegant and classic drawing, the result of a deep knowledge of the nude and the study of ancient art, distinctive features of Vargas in his mature stage.
The dynamism of the scene is intensified by the wide red cloak that envelops the figure of Christ, treated with a marked spatial sense and a vibrant chromatic richness. Around him, the Roman soldiers show a remarkable study of attitudes and clothing, evoking models of classical reliefs and sculptures that the artist may have known during his Italian training. Especially significant is the figure of the soldier with his back to the viewer, whose elegant and contemplative pose introduces a mannerist resource and reinforces the narrative depth of the scene.
The coloring, another of the characteristic elements of Luis de Vargas, is manifested in the warm and luminous tones that envelop the figure of Christ, as well as in the intense hallmarks -the bright red of the seated "sayón" stands out- that endow the work with expressive strength and contained dramatism. Overall, this Resurrection is presented as a contribution of special interest within the relatively small catalog of Luis de Vargas, reaffirming his relevance as a key figure in the assimilation of the Italian Renaissance language in Sevillian painting.

Luis de Vargas was the first great Sevillian painter of the Renaissance and achieved an artistic hegemony that had previously been exercised by foreign masters. Son of the painter Juan de Vargas, he must have initially trained with him before traveling to Italy, where he lived in Rome in two stages (c. 1527-1534 and 1541-1550). According to Francisco Pacheco, he was a humble artist and a great painter, deeply influenced by Pierino del Vaga, as well as by other Italian masters such as Salviati and Vasari. No identified works from his Italian period are preserved. His known production corresponds to his last period in Seville (1550-1567). The most outstanding work is the altarpiece of the Birth of Christ for the Cathedral of Seville (1552-1555), where a clear Italianate style combined with a personal style can be appreciated. This work confirms his key role in the renewal of Sevillian painting in the 16th century.