JUAN DE VALDÉS LEAL (Seville, 1622 - 1690), c... Lot n° 41

Cículo de JUAN DE VALDÉS LEAL (Seville, 1622 - 1690). "Saint Francis of Borgia". Oil on canvas. Repainting. Lacking in the frame. Measurements: 64 x 51 cm; 82,5 x 67,5 cm (frame). Contemporary of Murillo, Valdés Leal was his biggest pictorial rival in the Seville of his time. However, their language differs greatly. Murillo's gentleness contrasts with the latter's harshness and dramatic verism. In this representation of Saint Francis Borgia, whom we recognise by the skull and imperial crown he holds in his left hand, the saint is depicted with a countenance reminiscent of other religious figures depicted by Valdés Leal, starting with the painting of the same figure that he produced for the pictorial series on the life of Saint Ignatius of Loyola (now in the Museo de Bellas Artes in Seville). Under the lowered eyelids, black eyes of impenetrably deep expression, together with the frown and half-open lips, reveal with intensity a moment of inner transformation. The dark, velvety-textured clothing accentuates by contrast the naturalism of the flesh tones, both on the face and on the hands. The glittering jewels on the skull denote particular skill in the use of glazes and glitter. The psychological depth and the symbol of the crowned skull convey the horror at the discovery of the decomposition of the Empress Isabella of Portugal when she was about to hand over her corpse in Granada. The jewels symbolise the saint's renunciation of all earthly goods. Especially known for his paintings of vanitas (such as those he painted for the church of La Caridad in Seville), Valdés Leal nevertheless worked on all kinds of religious themes. We do not know when he moved to Córdoba, although it is likely that he had already trained as an artist in his native city. It has been speculated that he was influenced by the workshop of Herrera el Viejo, and also by the art of the Cordovan Antonio del Castillo, as possible influences for his first known signed and dated work, the San Andrés in the church of San Francisco in Cordoba, dated 1647. In it he was able to combine the monumentality of the figure of the saint with a naturalistic approach with visible success. In 1656 he settled in Seville, where he spent most of his life. In 1660 he was one of the founders of the Academy of Drawing, of which he became president in 1663. The following year Palomino set out on his trip to the court and to El Escorial, a journey that can still be understood as an apprenticeship, driven by his eagerness to become acquainted with the works of the great masters in the royal collections. In 1667 he joined the Brotherhood of Charity in Seville, whose founder had been Miguel de Mañara, the noble visionary author of the eschatological Discourse on Truth, to which Valdés would remain attached from then on. In 1671 Valdés Leal had the opportunity to work as an architect on the ephemeral decorations that the Seville cathedral had installed to celebrate the canonisation of Saint Ferdinand. Thanks to these works Palomino defines him as "a great draughtsman, perspectivist and architect". He also produced two engravings, reproducing his works in the cathedral, for Fernando Torres Farfán's book celebrating the event, which gives us an insight into his work as an architect. These are his most important works as a printmaker, although his engraving of the cathedral monstrance, a self-portrait and the posthumous image of Miguel de Mañara are also known. In 1672 he was in Cordoba, an occasion that Palomino took advantage of to meet him personally. This lends further value to the Cordovan treatise writer's affirmation of Valdés Leal's literary interest, as he describes him as possessing "the ornament of all good letters, not forgetting those of poetry".