Spanish School; XVII century. Lot n° 6

Spanish School; XVII century. "St. Anthony Abbot and St. Paul the Hermit". Oil on canvas. Relined. Presents repainting and restorations. Measurements: 138 x 188 cm. Towards the end of his life, San Antonio Abad visited Pablo the Hermit, superior of the anchorites of La Tebaida, who was miraculously fed by a raven that carried a bread in its beak every day for the saint. This miracle was repeated on the day of Anthony's visit, and on that day the raven carried two loaves of bread instead of one. This food provided by divine will appears here represented between both characters, as the only narrative and iconographic element of the scene. This scene shows the exact moment in which the raven has already left the bread to the two saints, in fact, you can see how it flies away from the scene, flying towards the upper left area of the composition. In the center of the scene we can see the two saints, differentiated by their habits, although it is worth noting that both are similar in terms of the face, with which the artist has portrayed each of the protagonists. They are set in a lush landscape that is barely visible due to its darkness. Spanish baroque painting is one of the most authentic and personal examples of our art, because its conception and form of expression arose from the people and the deepest feelings that nestled in it. With the economy of the State broken, the nobility in decline and the high clergy burdened with heavy taxes, it was the monasteries, the parishes and the confraternities of clerics and laymen who promoted its development, the works sometimes being financed by popular subscription. Painting was thus forced to capture the prevailing ideals in these environments, which were none other than religious ones, at a time when the counter-reformist doctrine demanded from art a realistic language so that the faithful would understand and identify with what was represented, and an expression endowed with an intense emotional content to increase the fervor and devotion of the people. The religious subject is, therefore, the preferred theme of Spanish sculpture of this period, which in the first decades of the century began with a priority interest in capturing the natural, to progressively intensify throughout the century the expression of expressive values.