Francisco de Zurbarán (Fuente de Cantos, Badajoz, 1598-Madrid, 1664). The Holy Face. Oil on canvas. Signed and ...

Francisco de Zurbarán (Fuente de Cantos, Badajoz, 1598-Madrid, 1664). The Holy Face. Oil on canvas. Signed and dated 1639. Certificate from Enrique Valdivieso is attached. Relining. 100 x 82 cm. The theme of the Holy Face or the cloth of Veronica is one of the most repeated iconographies in Zurbarán's production. The theme reached a special devotion that was very widespread in 17th century Spain for showing the proximity of a moment of the Passion, a motif and an ideal size for oratories and chapels that brought the face of Christ closer to the faithful. In the center the head of Christ with a crown of thorns is represented, alluding to the face of Jesus when on his way to Calvary, a woman wiped her face with the veil that covered her head. This episode, despite representing one of the Stations of the Via Crucis, is not found in the canonical Gospels. The oldest quotation dates from the second century, in the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus. According to professor Enrique Valdivieso "We are facing one of the different versions that Zurbarán made on the iconography of the Holy Face" There are currently a dozen cataloged copies of this work. Valdivieso insists on the dating between 1630-1640 especially because of the identical repetition of the cloths. "Very important are also the games of light and shadow that create the folds of the cloth and that originate an effect of powerful relief and volumetry at the same time as the sensation of contemplating something real". This work is the most similar to the one kept in the National Museum in Stockholm. The composition of the painting is overwhelming both for its realism and for its strong drama. As the specialist in the work of the Extremaduran painter Odile Delenda points out "The pleasure in representing Veronica's veil with this accentuated realistic character, like a trompe l'oeil, is resolved in these paintings by the Extremaduran master through the illusion of the frame, being the only link with the outside world fine double cords from which a knotted cloth hangs in a neutral and undefined space. A long shiny pin gathers the cloth in the center, creating a totally illusionistic "frame in frame". The presentation of the canvas is a painter's own invention, of which we do not know other examples in seventeenth-century painting. " We owe to the great Zurbaranista María Luisa Caturla the interesting and perfect definition of the Holy Face of Zurbarán as «trompe-l'œil a lo divino». Caturla studied this theme in the Extremadura's work, considering it, with good reason, a kind of religious trompe l'oeil. This painting will be included by Delenda in the Supplement to the reasoned and critical catalog of Francisco de Zurbarán, currently in preparation.

Reference bibliography: María Luisa Caturla "The Holy Face of Zurbarán: trompe-l'oeil a lo divino". Goya, Madrid, nº 64-65, pp. 202-205. Madrid, January-April 1965.

Odile Delenda "Francisco de Zurbarán, 1598-1664". 2 vols. Madrid: Foundation.