Francisco Gómez de Valencia

FRANCISCO GÓMEZ DE VALENCIA (Granada, 1657- ¿?).
"Holy Family.
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Signed in the lower corner.
Measurements: 122 x 106 cm; 142 x 129 cm (frame).
The present Holy Family is fully inscribed in the context of the baroque painting of Granada in the last third of the seventeenth century, an area in which Francisco Gómez de Valencia developed his activity directly following the stylistic trail of his father, Felipe Gómez de Valencia, and, more broadly, the decisive imprint of Alonso Cano. The work responds to a deeply rooted devotional iconography, aimed at fostering an intimate and affective piety, in accordance with the spiritual ideals of the Counter-Reformation.
The composition is organized in a balanced and closed way, focusing the attention on the family group. The work shows the "sweet coloring" pointed out by Ceán Bermúdez, visible in the warm and nuanced range, as well as in the softness of the flesh tones and in the delicate transition of lights and shadows. The drawing is firm but flexible, avoiding rigidity and favoring a friendly reading of the forms. The lighting, of moderate character, envelops the figures without excessive drama, reinforcing the intimate and devotional tone of the scene, in harmony with the canesque models.
Francisco Gómez de Valencia was the son of the painter Felipe Gómez de Valencia and an outstanding member of the Granada school formed around Alonso Cano. According to Antonio Palomino and, later, Ceán Bermúdez, he inherited from his father a facility for drawing and a special sense of color.
Not before 1699, date of the Dormition of the Virgin preserved in the Museum of Fine Arts of Granada, he must have moved to Mexico, where, according to sources, he died well into the eighteenth century. His presence in the New Spain is confirmed by works such as the Assumption signed and preserved in the Academy of San Carlos in Mexico, quoted by Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez.