Spanish school; XVIII-XIX centuries.

Spanish school; XVIII-XIX centuries.
"San Bruno".
Oil on canvas.
Measurements: 19,5 x 12,5 cm.
In this canvas we see San Bruno dressed as a Carthusian, with his austere white habit and taking a skull with his left hand. The influence of Zurbarán can be appreciated in his white tunic in strong contrast with the background. The contours are sculpted by the light. Also the hand and face have been cultivated a bold naturalism, typically baroque.
Bruno of Cologne (c. 1030-1101) was a German monk, founder of the contemplative religious order of the Carthusians. During his youth he was a canon in Cologne, and studied secular and theological letters. Later he went to Reims, in France, to study theology, and became a professor in 1057. In this city he became director of teaching, and among his students was Eudes of Chatillon, the future Pope Urban II. He later opted for the life of a hermit, under the direction of Robert of Molesmes. Bishop Hugo of Grenoble gave him the mountainous area of the Charterhouse, where he built an oratory surrounded by cells, which would give rise to the Carthusian order in 1084. Called to Rome some time later, he helped in the reform of Urban II. However, he preferred the contemplative life, so he returned to solitude, resigning the archbishopric of Reggio. He then retired to the Carthusian monastery of La Torre, in Calabria, where he lived in solitude together with a few lay people and some clerics, and there he died and was buried. Bruno of Cologne was not canonized, although his cult is authorized to the Carthusians, since they shun all public manifestations.