Spanish school of the first half of the 17th century.

Spanish school of the first half of the seventeenth century.
"St. Peter of Alcantara with donor".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
It presents faults in the pictorial surface.
Measurements: 155 x 116 cm.
The work represents San Pedro de Alcántara, Spanish Franciscan reformer, accompanied by a donor who appears in reverent attitude, following the tradition of devotional portraits where the patron or patron is integrated in the sacred scene. The composition reflects the saint's austerity and asceticism, emphasized by the sobriety of the colors and the expressive restraint of the gestures. The hierarchical arrangement places the figure of the saint as the central axis, while the donor is discreetly incorporated, establishing a visual and devotional link with the divinity.
The style is in the early Spanish Baroque, influenced by the Castilian school in the firmness of the drawing and compositional clarity, as well as in the use of a moderate chiaroscuro to highlight the modeling of the figures. The work combines restrained emotional expression with a formal precision that reflects the interest of the time in devotional realism and the didactic transmission of the image of the saints.
Saint Peter of Alcántara (1499-1562) was canonized in 1669, and his iconography was widely disseminated in Spain during the 17th century. Paintings such as this one served both private devotion and institutional commissions, and show the influence of masters such as Zurbarán or Ribera in the austere and solemn construction of the figures, while integrating the patron into the religious narrative.