Andalusian school of the seventeenth century. Circle of JUAN DE VALDÉS LEAL (Seville, 1622 - 1690). "Head of St. John the Baptist". Oil on original

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Córdoba: 2,000 Years of Art

By Setdart Auction House

Dec 21, 2021

Set Reminder 2021-12-21 07:30:00 2021-12-21 07:30:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Córdoba: 2,000 Years of Art https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/setdart-auction-house/c-rdoba-2-000-years-of-art-8049
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• Lot Description
  Andalusian school of the seventeenth century. Circle of JUAN DE VALDÉS LEAL (Seville, 1622 - 1690). "Head of St. John the Baptist". Oil on original canvas. Frame simulating rosewood. Measurements: 50 x 45 cm; 61 x 56,5 cm (frame). In this work the artist does not worship the mortuary and macabre but, by representing the head of the saint, he tries to pay homage to those Christians who knew how to give their lives in defense of the Faith. There is no recreation of the gruesome in this work, but an exaltation of martyrdom, an idea propagated by the Counter-Reformation through the Church. Compositionally and stylistically this painting should be contextualized within the Andalusian school. The baroque style, the chiaroscuro, the theme of martyrdom, or rather, of the decapitated heads of the martyrs, which abounded in the painting of Valdés Leal or Llanos y Valdés and the Sevillian circle, place this painting within that tenebrist tradition which, in parallel to the sweetness of Murillo, developed by delving into a rougher aesthetic, in the dramatism of the memento mori, etc. The Gospels say of John the Baptist that he was the son of the priest Zechariah and Elizabeth, cousin of the Virgin Mary. He retired very young to the desert of Judea to lead an ascetic life and preach penance, and recognized in Jesus, who was baptized by him, the Messiah announced by the prophets. A year after the baptism of Christ, in the year 29, John was arrested and imprisoned by the tetrarch of Galilee Herod Antipas, whose marriage with Herodias, his niece and sister-in-law, he had dared to censure. Finally St. John was beheaded, and his head given to Salome as a reward for his beautiful dances. This saint appears in Christian art with two different aspects: as a child, Jesus' playmate, and as an adult, an ascetic preacher. Regarding the representation of his head, either alone or carried by Salome, although it has its roots in the Codex Sinopensis of the 6th century, it is not usually represented until the Romanesque period. However, with the passage from the Middle Ages to the Modern period, the representation of Salome with the saint's head lost importance in favor of the bloody scene of the Baptist's head on a tray.
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