Toledo school of the first third of the 17th century. "Calvary". Oil... Lot 10

Toledo school of the first third of the 17th century. "Calvary". Oil on canvas. In its original canvas. It presents repainting, leaps and faults. Frame of the 20th century. Measurements: 220 x 135 cm; 227 x 143 cm (frame). Due to its stylistic characteristics, the work in question shows that it belongs to the Spanish school of the first third of the 17th century, having to be considered as anonymous of the Toledo school. This painting depicts the Crucifixion with the Virgin, Saint John the Evangelist and Mary Magdalene at the foot of the Cross, an iconographic form evolved from the original Byzantine Déesis, which depicted Christ in Majesty accompanied by Mary and Saint John the Baptist. In Western art, the representation of Christ on the cross was preferred as a narrative scene, and the figure of John the Baptist was replaced by that of John the Evangelist. This image, in its conception and form, is the result of the expression of the people and their deepest feelings. The composition of the present work is based on the Gospel text, which is why all the figures are clearly depicted against a neutral background that emphasises their corporeality. Jesus is clearly highlighted in the centre, illuminated, with a less contrasting and chiaroscuro treatment than the other figures. At a formal level, the monumentality of the figures is also noteworthy, worked with a markedly sculptural sense that derives in part from the influence of Michelangelo, filtered through the Roman-Bolognese classicists. The result is a painting that combines with balance and mastery the two great trends that shaped the Baroque at European level: the classical in the figures, the eloquent theatricality of the gestures and the classical chromatism, applied in large fields, and the naturalist derived from Caravaggio and his followers, reflected in the careful and effective study of light. With the economy of the state in ruins, the nobility in decline and the clergy heavily taxed, it was the monasteries, parishes and confraternities of clerics and laymen who encouraged its development, with works sometimes financed by popular subscription. Painting was thus obliged to express the prevailing ideals in these environments, which were none other than religious ones, at a time when Counter-Reformation doctrine demanded a realistic language from art so that the faithful could understand and identify with what was depicted, and an expression endowed with an intense emotional content to increase the fervour and devotion of the people. Religious themes were therefore the preferred subject matter of Spanish sculpture of this period, which in the early decades of the century was based on a priority interest in capturing the natural world, gradually intensifying over the course of the century in the depiction of expressive values, which was achieved through movement and the variety of gestures, the use of light resources and the representation of moods and feelings.