ANTONIO DEL CASTILLO Y SAAVEDRA (Córdoba, 1616 - 1668). "Lamentation. Oil on canvas. Relined.

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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
  ANTONIO DEL CASTILLO Y SAAVEDRA (Córdoba, 1616 - 1668). "Lamentation. Oil on canvas. Relined. Presents frame of the eighteenth century. Measurements: 140 x 202 cm; 152 x 211 cm (frame). The composition of the work, added to the light treatment where the contrasts stand out, and the rich coloring used by the artist, in the clothes and the flesh tones of the characters, make us think of the hand of Antonio del Castillo. In fact, it is worth mentioning that the Church of San Andres in Cordoba preserves a work with the same theme and composition that was for a long time attributed to Antonio del Castillo. Iconographically, the scene of the lamentation or weeping over the body of the dead Christ is part of the cycle of the Passion, and is inserted between the Descent from the Cross and the Holy Burial. It narrates the moment in which the body of Christ is deposited on a shroud (in other cases, on the stone of anointing) and they are arranged around him, bursting in laments and sobs, his mother, St. John, the holy women, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. It is a very emotional theme, fruit of popular piety, which concentrates the attention on the drama of the Passion and the loving and sorrowful contemplation, with a realistic and moving sense. The Virgin, covered with a headdress as a sign of mourning and generally placed next to her Son's head, embraces him and mourns, either with a tragic expression or a restrained emotion. St. John is here on the right, standing, although he usually appears comforting Mary or caressing the body of the recumbent. Antonio Castillo is considered the father of the Cordovan school, known for his work as a painter, he was also a polychromator and designer of architectural, decorative and goldsmith projects. He was the son of Agustín del Castillo, a little known painter from Llerena (Extremadura) whom Palomino describes as "an excellent painter". It is also believed that he may have trained as a polychromator in Calderón's workshop. However, he was orphaned when he was only ten years old, in 1626, and went on to develop his training in the workshop of another painter of whom we have no news, Ignacio Aedo Calderón. Although there is no real evidence of this, it is believed that he may have arrived in Seville, where, according to Palomino, he entered Zurbarán's workshop. This has been corroborated by the stylistic influence of the master from Extremadura that historians have seen in Castillo's work. However, in 1635 he was back in his native Cordoba, where he married and settled permanently, to finally become without discussion the most important artist of the city. His fame and quality earned him important commissions, including religious altarpieces, portraits and medium-sized series. He was also the teacher of outstanding Cordovan painters of the following generation, such as Juan de Alfaro y Gámez. Regarding his language, Antonio del Castillo did not develop an evident evolution in his work, although towards the end of his life a more softened language can be appreciated, and he kept away from the baroque novelties of other contemporary painters. However, like the rest of his contemporaries, he was seduced by the novelty of Murillo's work, and in his last years he would introduce the Venetian chromatic softness of the Sevillian master. Today, examples are kept in the Prado Museum, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, the J. Paul Getty in Los Angeles, the Louvre, the Metropolitan in New York, etc.
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