School of Juan de Valdés Leal; XVII century.

School of JUAN DE VALDÉS LEAL (Seville, 1622 - 1690); XVII century.
"Pietà".
Oil on canvas.
Preserves original canvas.
Measurements: 112 x 168 cm.
The scene presents the exanimated body of Christ after the descent, arranged diagonally on a white shroud that, by luminous and chromatic contrast, is erected in visual and symbolic axis of the composition. The Virgin, dejected but contained, accompanies the body of the Son with a gesture of silent pain, while the secondary figures - treated with economy of means - reinforce the dramaturgy of the whole without distracting the main narrative focus.
From the stylistic point of view, the work reveals characteristic traits of the orbit of Juan de Valdés Leal: a vehement, almost stark naturalism, visible in the anatomy of Christ, whose corporeality is described with a realism without idealization, underlined by the representation of the wounds, the bloody trace and the still perceptible tension in the muscles. The use of chiaroscuro is decisive: the dark backgrounds, of dense texture, envelop the figures and project them towards the spectator by means of a directed, dramatic illumination that intensifies the pathos of the scene. The brushstroke, loose and vibrant in certain areas, coexists with passages of greater technical restraint, especially in the faces, where a deep psychological expressiveness rather than formal beauty is sought.
The pictorial quality is manifested in the effective compositional articulation and in the ability to combine expressive violence and narrative coherence. The chromatism, dominated by earths, ochers and blacks, is strategically interrupted by the white of the shroud and the reddish accents of the blood and the cloths, habitual resources in the Valdesian language to guide the gaze and reinforce the symbolic meaning of the redemptive sacrifice.
Juan de Valdés Leal (Seville, 1622-1690) was one of the most singular and radical personalities of the Spanish Baroque. Trained in the Sevillian environment and deeply marked by the religiosity of his time, he developed a very personal style, characterized by extreme dramatism, compositional dynamism and an almost violent expressiveness, in contrast to the serene classicism of other contemporary masters such as Murillo. His influence was notable in Seville and Andalusia, where he left a trail of followers and workshop works that spread his intense and moralizing aesthetic. Valdés Leal embodies, like few others, the most restless and disenchanted spirit of the Baroque, and his legacy is essential to understand the most emotional and raw dimension of Spanish painting in the 17th century.