TREASURES OF AL ANDALUS, OLD MASTERS, FINE ART AND ANTIQUES
Lot 160:
Oil on canvas. Measurements: 92 x 79 cm (framed) and 77 x 64 cm (canvas). Provenance: important private collection, Spain. After the death of the great painter Ribalta (1628), he became the absolute ruler of the Valencian art scene from a young age, where he preferably worked for numerous convents and religious orders. The large number of commissions that he received has served as a documentary source for the knowledge of his biography. The only period from which we lack news of him is between 1640 and 1647, which has given rise to various speculations about trips to Madrid and Seville. His passage through the Andalusian capital, above all, has become a helpful argument to explain his stylistic concomitance with Zurbarán. His training was developed together with his progenitor, a humble painter from Valladolid established halfway between Cocentaina and Valencia, although the success of Ribalta’s achievements would leave a permanent mark on our artist. The family’s move to Valencia must have taken place during Jerónimo Jacinto’s childhood, probably around 1612. The first known work by him is dated that same year, which shows his precocity. In 1616 he appears registered in the College of Painters of the Mediterranean city, declaring that he had been working with his father for a year. In Valencia he developed the rest of his existence -if we exclude the possible trips mentioned-, painting for the local environment and, as far as we know, leading a comfortable and quiet life. His extensive production reflects the scant evolution of his art. His painting, like his characters, appears out of time, arrested in solemn and symmetrical compositions. His monastic series are the ones that are closest to Zurbarán’s work and, as in this one, the monumental verticality of the religious dominates, the meticulous reflection of the fabrics and the intensity and naturalism of the faces, as if illuminated. When painters throughout Spain adhered to the most fully baroque formulas, Espinosa still appears static in the strictest tenebrism, using a strong directed light that illuminates the scene with powerful contrasts. All this speaks to us of a style that is out of date, isolated, self-absorbed, but that responds to the demand for pious art requested by the local clientele. His fervent naturalism also enabled him to make a handful of vivid and analytical portraits. There are nine canvases by Espinosa present in the Prado Museum. Among them, it is worth highlighting La Magdalena penitente, as it is a reflection, not only of Espinosa’s painting, but also of the path that her works have traveled in the Prado. His work in the local Valencian environment meant that none of them reached the royal collections until the time of Ferdinand VII, his presence in the Museum being due to modern purchases. Thus, La Magdalena penitente was acquired in 1992 after passing through various collectors. Previously, in 1838, it had been part of the collection of Luis Felipe de Orleans. It is an eloquent testimony to the aesthetics of the painter, with the saint in full ecstasy, illuminated by a harsh overhead light that leads to the stiffness of fabrics and flesh, and is a sign of a piety as simple as it is devout, very much from the 17th century.
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