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33 - Joan REIXACH (Valencia, documented from 1431 to 1486) VERONI…
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Estimate €12,000 - €16,000
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Description
Joan REIXACH (Valencia, documented from 1431 to 1486) VERONICA OF THE VIRGIN Devotional panel Egg tempera and gold ground on wooden panel Comes with its wooden frame. Height: 41.5 cm Width: 27 cm H. 47 cm; W. 32.5 cm overall H. 41.2 cm; W. 27 cm picture surface Thickness: 3 cm including frame moulding 1.5 cm panel alone INSCRIPTION At the lower edge of the panel, in Gothic letters painted in black and red on a gold background: AVE REGINA CELORUM AVE DOMINA AN (gelorum) CONDITION Slightly domed panel, consisting of two boards 28 cm and 4.5 cm wide, the reverse of which is covered with gesso painted orange. Original gilded wooden frame moulding. Painting surface and gold ground: wear and restoration, repainted on the left-hand side of the blue veil. Stamped and engraved ornamentation: original BIBLIOGRAPHY El Renacimiento Mediterraneo, exhibition, Madrid, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, 31 January–6 May 2001, p. 327, fig. 46G, p. 328 n.15 (attributed to Joan Reixach?) La clave flamenca en los primitivos valencianos, exhibition, Valencia, Museo de Bellas Artes, 30 May–2 September 2001, pp. 138–139, fig. 7.4 (attributed to Joan Reixach) The Virgin, standing out against the gold background, is depicted in bust form, wearing a pleated red dress, her head and shoulders entirely covered by a wide cloak studded with delicate golden motifs, beneath which her face is visible, encircled by a white veil draped as a chin-strap. A border highlighting the edge of the frame and the broad halo, both adorned with engraved and punched geometric and plant motifs, enliven the gilded surface. Bordering the lower part of this image, the slightly curved scroll bears the inscriptions reciting the antiphon chanted during the Compline service, a prayer of praise to the Virgin during Lent. The style of the Virgin’s face derives from the so-called acheiropoietes icons (not made by human hands) present and venerated in Rome in the early days of Christianity, a model which spread to Spain, particularly in the region of Valencia. In 1398 in Barcelona, during the feast of the Immaculate Conception, the King of Aragon, Martin the Humane, had one of these venerable images displayed; King Alfonso the Magnanimous later presented it to Valencia Cathedral in 1437. (cf. El Renacimiento Mediterraneo, op. cit., pp. 139–142, repr.). This gift encouraged the widespread adoption of this model in the 15th century, which is also found in the form of a double-sided panel associated with the ‘Vera icona’ of Christ. The creation of this devotional image, which concentrates the intimacy between the faithful and the sacred figure within a confined space, belongs to the same artistic context that was dominated in mid-15th-century Valencia by the painter Joan Reixach, a native of Catalonia. It is indeed to this artist that recent scholarship has attributed the work upon its appearance on the art market (see Bibliography). Reixach was particularly sensitive to the Northern Flemish style disseminated through the works of Luis Dalmau, as evidenced by his altarpiece of Saint Ursula—the artist’s only signed and dated work, from 1468 (Barcelona, MNAC/MAC 15927), which bears a distinctly courtly character whilst remaining rooted in the Gothic tradition. This tradition is clearly visible in this ‘Veronica of the Virgin’, where the ornamental work of the gold background—a very broad halo with plant motifs bordered by a circle of geometric figures—marks Reixach’s individual style, just as the stylistic elements still linked to the symbolism of Gothic aesthetics do. This is evidenced by the delicate appearance of the figure, her oval face with precise, pronounced features, the tapered line of her long, pointed nose, the rigorously drawn half-closed eyelids, and the meditative and expressive nature of her gaze. All these characteristics are found most notably in the Predella of the Passion (Valencia, Museo de Bellas Artes, inv. 2101), dated around 1450 by art historians, and allow us to place the creation of our panel around the same period. Expert: Cabinet Turquin.
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About the sale Antique and 19th-century paintings, Drawings, Furniture, Works of art, Silverware, Books
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Auction time 06/24/2026 at 2:30 PM
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