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Late 16th-century Spanish school
See original version (French)
2
-
Late 16th-century Spanish school
See original version (French)
Estimate €12,000 - €18,000
Voluntary lot
Description
Late 16th-century Spanish school
Ecce Homo, or Christ with the Reed
Oil on panel
Dimensions: 79 × 51.5 cm (artwork) · 101 × 76 cm (overall)
Our striking Ecce Homo, painted by an artist influenced by Alonso Berruguete and Luis de Morales, is a characteristic example of the mystical and doloristic aesthetic of religious painting that came to the fore during the reign of Philip II (1556–1598).
Whilst the facial features of this Christ draw more heavily on Alonso Berruguete (1490–1561), the great chromatic restraint, the stark black and grey background, and the grey flesh tones suggesting the approach of death bear witness to the impact of the works of Luis de Morales (1509/1519–1586) on several generations of Iberian painters.
Active in Badajoz, in Extremadura (south-west Spain), for almost four decades, Morales produced an extensive body of work, the influence of which is evident in this piece. Firstly, he fulfilled commissions for churches, including Badajoz Cathedral, the Monastery of Santo Domingo in Évora (Portugal) and the parish church of Arroyo de la Luz, amongst others. ; secondly, for private individuals who visited the workshop and commissioned reproductions of these devotional works, which quickly became his speciality.
Morales worked quickly: in 1548, several artists and colleagues noted that he could complete a painting in two days.
During the 1550s and 1560s, Badajoz saw a succession of eminent men of the Church at the head of the diocese. Francisco de Navarra, bishop from 1545 to 1556,
had studied in Toulouse and Paris and attended the first session of the Council of Trent.
His successor, Cristóbal Sandoval y Rojas, was one of the most important men of the Church of his time. He took part in the second session of the Council and, upon his arrival in Badajoz, implemented the new guidelines for the faith. In particular, Sandoval encouraged spiritual renewal through a form of personal devotion that drew on emotion, following the model proposed by Loyola in his ‘Spiritual Exercises’. He was thus the originator of a local variant of mystical practice known as ‘Illuminism’.
This revival of religious fervour was fostered by the next bishop, Juan de Ribera, who held the episcopal see from 1562 to 1569. Ribera, the illegitimate son of a nobleman from Seville, the Duke of Alcalá, was a man of great learning and intense faith, who maintained close ties with the mystical writers Saint John of Ávila and Fray Luis de Granada. The fervour kindled by Sandoval and Ribera found in Morales a faithful and committed interpreter.
No Spanish painter ever surpassed Morales in expressing the personal and passionate faith of the mystical writers. It is possible that his actual isolation from new stylistic trends led him to deepen his religious faith, whilst allowing him the freedom to develop this highly personal style, far removed from the allure of novelty. Little is known about the origins of Morales’s highly individual style: his manner of depicting the human figure—extremely emaciated, with flesh that appears almost lifeless, and shadows rendered in a radical sfumato—bears no resemblance to the tradition of central Italy in the early 16th century; it is much closer to the Flemish painting of that period, a fact which explains the hypothesis that Morales learnt to paint in Seville whilst studying under Pieter de Kempeneer (also known as Pedro de Campaña (1503–1587)).
The influence of Morales’s style is well documented: his patrons in Seville are known; his paintings were also acquired by prominent figures in Toledo, where he might have had contact with Alonso Berruguete had he travelled there. It is even possible that he spent some time in Naples in his youth, a city characterised by the incredible stylistic diversity of its local artists.
Morales never altered the perfect formula he had devised to convey the religious passions that briefly energised this isolated corner of Spain.
Our painting, a hybrid work by a talented painter yet to be identified, serves as a reminder of just how much ‘Il Divino de Badajoz’ (Morales’s nickname) contributed to the life of faith in the most mystical of the Christian nations of the 16th century.
Dimensions: 79 × 51.5 cm (artwork) · 101 × 76 cm (overall)
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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