DIEGO LÓPEZ, known as EL MUDO (Active in Spain... Lot 50

DIEGO LÓPEZ, known as EL MUDO (Active in Spain in the second half of the 17th century) Hercules and Omphale; Samson and Delilah Pair of original canvasses Signed lower left: Lopez el Mudo, the first on the base of the fountain: LoPez. EL MvDo and the second on the base of the column: Lopez, El Mvdo Hercules and Omphale; Samson and Delilah Pair of original canvasses, Signed lower left: Lopez el Mudo, the first on the base of the fountain: LoPez. EL MvDo and the second on the base of the column: Lopez, El Mvdo 70 x 101,5 cm - 27,6 x 40 in. BIBLIOGRAPHY Begona Alvarez Seijo, "Amor vincit heros : Hercules y Onfale y Sanson y Dalila de Diego Lopez el Mudo", in Quiroga, n°19, 2021, pp. 11-19, reproduced fig. 1 and 2. Little is known about the life of this artist. He seems to have been a pupil of Carreño de Miranda and his name appears in the will of the latter's widow. The historian Antonio Ponz, in his Viage de España, mentions in volume VIII (1778) that he was mute ("mudo") and that the church and sacristy of the Virgen del Prado in Talavera de la Reina (province of Toledo), preserved several of his works. This is mentioned by Ceán Bermúdez in his Historical Dictionary of the Most Illustrious Professors of Fine Arts in Spain (III, 1800). Some of Diego López's works have been attributed to Navarrete El Mudo, who lived a century earlier, because of their identical nicknames. Our pendants illustrate two episodes, one from mythology and the other from the Bible, in which a hero praised for his courage and strength is reduced to impotence by a woman. Omphale disguises Hercules and makes him spin wool, while Delilah, by cutting Samson's hair, allows his capture by the Philistine soldier in the background. In these two compositions, which belong to the baroque art, the artist shows himself to be a landscape artist and a good painter of architecture.