Spanish school of the 20th century.

Spanish school of the 20th century.
"Virgin with child".
Oil on panel.
It shows deterioration and loss of polychrome. It needs restoration.
Measurements: 50 x 26 cm, 57 x 36 cm (frame).

The painting presents a Virgin and Child accompanied by two kneeling female figures, arranged symmetrically and hierarchically. The composition, the panel format with semicircular top and the gilded background clearly refer to medieval and early Renaissance models, especially to Italian and Flemish devotional painting. The Virgin occupies the central axis and is represented in a larger size, emphasizing her importance, while holding the Child, who carries a fruit with a strong symbolic charge related to original sin and redemption.

From the formal point of view, the work is characterized by a marked frontality, absence of real depth and an intentionally flat space. The faces are serene, idealized, and the gestures contained, reinforcing the timeless and sacred character of the scene. The use of gilding and halos no longer responds to a medieval liturgical necessity, but to a deliberate aesthetic and symbolic choice, typical of a 20th century artist who looks to the past as a source of inspiration.

Historically, this work is part of a trend that was very present in the 20th century: the rereading of tradition. Faced with abstraction and the avant-garde, many artists chose to recover ancient figurative languages to give their work spirituality, order and symbolic clarity. Movements such as the return to order, neo-medievalism or certain currents of modern sacred art sought to renew religious art without breaking with its classical iconographies.

In this context, the painting does not seek to deceive the viewer by passing itself off as an ancient work, but to establish a conscious dialogue with the history of art. The Virgin and the accompanying figures function as archetypes, not as specific characters, and the scene is presented as a space outside of time, valid for both contemporary devotion and aesthetic contemplation.

Overall, the work reflects how, in the 20th century, tradition could become a modern language. By recovering medieval and Renaissance models, the artist vindicates the validity of sacred art and demonstrates that spirituality and figuration are still possible in a world marked by rupture and experimentation.