Spanish school; first third of the XIX century. "Holy family with San Juanito". Oil on canvas. Relined.

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19th & 20th Century paintings and Decorative ...

By Setdart Auction House

Nov 10, 2021

Set Reminder 2021-11-10 08:00:00 2021-11-10 08:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : 19th & 20th Century paintings and Decorative Arts https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/setdart-auction-house/19th-20th-century-paintings-and-decorative-arts-7800
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• Lot Description
  Spanish school; first third of the XIX century. "Holy family with San Juanito". Oil on canvas. Relined. It has a period frame. Measurements: 125 x 91 cm; 140 x 105 cm (frame). In this work the artist has made the representation of the Holy Family, following the sweet and naturalistic modes of the time. Through the use of a pyramidal composition in which all the characters are inscribed, the author gives greater prominence to the figure of Mary and the Child. They are placed in the center of the composition, and next to them a mature Saint Joseph, who contemplates the Virgin, absorbed in the scene that develops between the Virgin and the Child. San Juanito, who is located at the skirts of St. Joseph, tenderly approaches the Child, who lulls him with complicity with one of his arms. The family is in an interior of neutral character, which stands out for certain brighter tonalities, arranged in the Virgin's clothing and in the pearly skin of the little Jesus. It is necessary to emphasize the naturalness of the scene, since the Child pays his attention to St. Johnny, or for example the hands of St. Joseph crossed on his leg. This close attitude is used by the author to inspire and indoctrinate the spectator, thus getting him to empathize with religion through a scene of friendly character. In the most common sense of the expression, the Holy Family includes the closest relatives of the Child Jesus, that is, mother and grandmother or mother and nurturing father. In both cases, whether it is St. Anne or St. Joseph who appears, it is a group of three figures. From the artistic point of view, the arrangement of this terrestrial Trinity poses the same problems and suggests the same solutions as the heavenly Trinity. However, the difficulties are fewer. It is no longer a question of a single God in three persons whose essential unity must be expressed at the same time as diversity. The three personages are united by a blood bond, certainly, but they do not constitute an indivisible block. Moreover, the three are represented in human form, while the dove of the Holy Spirit introduces into the divine Trinity a zoomorphic element difficult to amalgamate with two anthropomorphic figures. On the other hand, this iconography was traditionally, until the Counter-Reformation, a representation of the Virgin and Child to which the figure of St. Joseph was added in the foreground. It was not until the reforms of Trent when St. Joseph began to take center stage as protector and guide of the Infant Jesus.
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