Spanish school; ca. 1600."Calvary".Oil on canvas. Re-retouched.It presents repainting and

Spanish school; ca. 1600.
"Calvary".
Oil on canvas. Re-retouched.
It presents repainting and restorations.
Measurements: 91 x 63 cm; 98,5 x 71 cm (frame).
Due to the theatricality of the scene, which is defined by a green curtain opened by some small angels arranged in the upper part of the work, added to other aesthetic characteristics, it is worth mentioning that this work belongs to the Spanish school of the 17th century. The author has chosen a work with a devotional theme, depicting the Crucifixion of Christ, accompanied by the Virgin, Saint John the Evangelist and Mary Magdalene at the foot of the Cross, an iconographic form evolved from the original Byzantine Deesis, which represented Christ in Majesty accompanied by Mary and Saint John the Baptist. In Western art, the representation of Christ on the cross was preferred as a narrative scene, and the figure of John the Baptist was replaced by that of John the Evangelist. This image, in its conception and form, is the result of the expression of the people and their deepest feelings. The composition in question here is based on the artist's faithful rendering of the Gospel text, which is why he clearly depicts all the figures against a background with a sober background that allows the monumentality of the protagonists to be emphasised. Jesus is clearly highlighted in the centre, illuminated, with a contrasting, chiaroscuro treatment that stands out from the rest of the figures. At a formal level, the monumentality of the figures is also noteworthy, worked with a markedly sculptural sense. The result is a painting that combines with balance and mastery the two great trends that shaped the Baroque at European level: the classical trend in the figures, the eloquent theatricality of the gestures and the classical chromaticism applied in large fields, and the naturalist trend derived from Caravaggio and his followers, reflected in the careful and effective study of light. With the economy of the state in ruins, the nobility in decline and the clergy heavily taxed, it was the monasteries, parishes and confraternities of clerics and laymen who encouraged its development, with works sometimes financed by popular subscription. Painting was thus obliged to express the prevailing ideals in these environments, which were none other than religious ones, at a time when Counter-Reformation doctrine demanded a realistic language from art so that the faithful could understand and identify with what was depicted, and an expression endowed with an intense emotional content to increase the fervour and devotion of the people. Religious themes were therefore the preferred subject matter of Spanish sculpture of this period, which in the early decades of the century was based on a priority interest in capturing the natural world, gradually intensifying over the course of the century in the depiction of expressive values, which was achieved through movement and the variety of gestures, the use of light resources and the representation of moods and feelings.