Spanish school, XVIII century.

Spanish school, XVIII century.
"The apparition of the Virgin of Mercy to Pedro Nolasco".
Oil on canvas.
Frame of the late nineteenth century, with traces of xylophages.
It presents faults and Punctures.
Measurements: 104 x 73 cm; 121 x 90 x 5 cm.
The present painting follows compositional precepts of the Baroque period, and more specifically it could be inspired by the homonymous painting made by Francisco de Zurbarán in 1628, destined to the cloister of the convent of La Merced, in Seville. Both present a diagonal composition with breaks of glory, although the iconographic elements differ. In our painting, three seraphs contemplate the Marian miracle bursting into the golden sky, and next to them the Child Jesus and a Virgin with long wavy hair appear to the saint. The saint, in tonsure and monastic habit, kneels down and stretches out his arms before the vision. The theme is part of the narration according to which, during the night of August 1, 1218, the Virgin appeared before the knight Pedro Nolasco, King James I and the Dominican Raymond of Peñafort to exhort them to create a new military and religious order destined to redeem Christian captives in the lands of the infidels.