ANTONIO FRÍAS Y ESCALANTE Cordoba, 1633 - Madrid,... Lot 42

ANTONIO FRÍAS Y ESCALANTE Cordoba, 1633 - Madrid, 1669). “La Virgen con el Niño, San Juanito y Santa Ana”. Oil on canvas. Relining. It presents restorations and repainting. Measurements: 107 x 85 cm. The Virgin holding the Child on her lap, directs her look to the book that her mother, Saint Anne, is holding. A gesture in which the author portrays the intimacy between both women, and their complicity, showing the spectator an intimate scene close to everyday life. In a classical triangular composition, the Child is almost in the centre, with his nudity and the glow of his pearly skin standing out in particular. The scene is completed by the figure of San Juanito, with his back to the viewer, and another figure in the background, in the exterior that can be seen through the main opening, limited by the large curtain. This figure, depicted on the canvas in a sketchy, sketchy manner, seems to represent a saint, as a sort of nimbus is visible. With regard to the technique, it is worth mentioning the quality of the drawing and the softness of the forms, whose greatest example is the delicacy of the Virgin's face, and in turn the contrast between her and her elderly mother. This technical purity, together with the use of earthy colours, is very reminiscent of the work of Antonio Frías y Escalante, an example of which is the work in the Museo Nacional de Prado, known as the Holy Family. Both works have similarities, although the figures are different. However, the composition and the chromatic range coincide to a large extent. A member of what is known as the "truncated generation", Antonio Frías y Escalante was a disciple of Francisco Rizzi, with whom he worked from a very young age. The brevity of his life prevented him from developing an artistic maturity that augured great achievements, as his contemporaries expected, but from the outset his works show his admiration for Venice, especially Tintoretto and Veronese. Thus, his followers would take from him his characteristic and personal chromatic range, centred on cold colours, a very refined palette of pinks, blues, greys and mauves, which we see in part in this canvas, especially in the draperies, although here the cold tones are offset by the warmth of the golds and carmines. Also typical of Escalante is the light, delicate, almost transparent brushstroke in which the example of Titian is evident.