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The Virgin and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist
Zurbarán, Francisco de
Fuente de Cantos, Badajoz, 07/11/1598-Madrid, 27/08/1664
Oil on canvas
169 x 127 cm
Franco De zurbaran (lower centre on a label)
1662
Third quarter of the 17th century
69/249
Acquired in 1940
Of all the paintings that Zurbarán made in Madrid in the latter stages of his career, there are several depicting the Virgin with Child in half-length, a new theme in the painter's oeuvre. They are intimate yet highly finished works imbued with a particular charm and wholly from the hand of the old master, who proves that he has lost none of his qualities in his wholesale live model painting. In these works meant for private devotion, which are clearly similar formally and iconographically, what draws our attention is precisely the variations on this approachable, charming theme, which was a resounding success among his devout clients of Madrid in 1658-1662.
Saint John the Baptist's visit to the Holy Family does not appear in the canonical gospels. However, in the 13th century, Pseudo-Bonaventure's Meditations on the Life of Christ suggested this visit by the young Saint John as a topic of reflection for the faithful. The encounter between the young John the Baptist and his divine cousin was accepted as a historical fact in the religious treatises from the 17th century because it offered a very pleasing theme, yet one that was also sadly prophetic. The Virgin and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist depicts precisely this episode. All of the elements of the interpretation of this scene as a premonition of the Passion appear here: the meek lamb, a symbol of the Paschal victim, the cross carried by the holy child and the fruit on the table as symbols of man's salvation. The Christ Child is blessing his cousin, the harbinger of the future who kisses his hand in adoration. The Virgin is holding a book of the Old Testament closed after meditation, and her face expresses a sad resignation at Christ's fate. The prophetic iconography in this apparently domestic scene has been traditional since the Middle Ages.
To date, this is the last known work by Zurbarán and the only one dated from 1662 with a sign that seems to have been attached to the surface of the canvas with a bit of red wax, as in other works by the painter. The composition shows a pyramidal structure and clearly harks back to the models from the Renaissance developed by Raphael which Zurbarán may have admired in the royal collections in Madrid. We know that the painter conserved several series of prints in his Madrid atelier, and faithful to his working method, he referred to these models to compose his paintings, studying their compositions and "drawing inspiration, as has ever been the norm, in the works of his immediate and remote predecessors", as Diego Angulo wrote on his fellow contemporary master, Diego Velázquez. In this case, he used Dürer's famous Virgin and Child with the Monkey engraved in 1498 as a source, as Angulo also published in 1944. We believe that Zurbarán may have also used Raphael's Madonna del Granduca (Galleria Palatina, Florence), which he may have been familiar with via an engraving or an old copy, to paint this extraordinarily vivacious Christ Child, which is a departure from his usual serene style. Other distant Italian models have also been related to this painting, with its profound symbolic resonance. However, regardless of these influences, the last painting by Zurbarán is a masterpiece which shows that his brief final period -around four years- was one of the most fertile and meaningful in his career as an artist, with numerous works signed and dated on the aforementioned little piece of folded paper bearing his signature, a veritable trompe-l'oeil placed in the foreground for all to see.
In the last period of his career, he often depicted this same Virgin, dark-haired and dark-skinned, with an oval face and almond eyes, leaning her head towards her right shoulder. She is wearing a carmine tunic and a bright blue cloak, just as in the other paintings depicting this theme, with the same light brownish veil around her neck. The tiny blond Jesus, almost naked, is also the same charming, lifelike child which he used as a model around this time. Little Saint John, who is not very handsome but is moving, with his attentive face, is wearing a brown sheepskin secured with a leather belt. On the sideboard on the right, which is covered in dark green, the gleaming metal of the traditional shiny plate made of pewter or silver reflects beautiful red apples and rosy- yellow pears. These elements are an incredible still life in themselves and prove, as if it were necessary at this stage, that the elderly Zurbarán had never ceased being a great painter. The softening of his painting technique does not thwart the quality of this last painting, whose beauty remains inalterable. In his later years in Madrid, the old painter continued to give his figures a highly characteristic corporal presence, now accentuated with subtle shaping. [Odile Delenda]
Selected bibliography
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