Vanitas, 17th century Sevillian School, attributable to Juan Valdés Leal (Seville, 1622-1690)

Vanitas, 17th century Sevillian School, attributable to Juan Valdés Leal (Seville, 1622-1690)
Oil on canvas, framed. With the poem "Life is a dream" by Pedro Calderón de la Barca. We are faced with an interesting composition framed in the theme with the theme of vanitas, widespread throughout most of Europe during the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries, the allegories "finis gloriae mundi" (The end of worldly glories) and "in ictu oculi” (In the blink of an eye) illustrate the thought of Miguel de Mañara, renovator of the Brotherhood of Holy Charity, as he left it written in his Book of Truth, in addition to completing the iconographic program of the chapel, made up of the Holy Burial of the main altarpiece and the series of "works of mercy" painted by Murillo, with which they form a coherent whole. Nevertheless, the macabre of its subject matter—and the strong personality of the painter—were detrimental to his posthumous fame and made it easy for any painting showing a decomposing corpse or the severed head of a saint to be attributed to him, even if they were paintings of poor quality. Turned into a "painter of the dead", as Enrique Romero de Torres called him, all the gloomy and repulsive matters seemed to suit him, while with romantic overtones the rivalry with Murillo, his contemporary, was enlarged and deepened, by supposing Valdés an angry and arrogant temperament opposed to the peaceful character of his rival. Measurements: 108 x 69 even if it was subpar quality paints. Turned into a "painter of the dead", as Enrique Romero de Torres called him, all the gloomy and repulsive matters seemed to suit him, while with romantic overtones the rivalry with Murillo, his contemporary, was enlarged and deepened, by supposing Valdés an angry and arrogant temperament opposed to the peaceful character of his rival. Measurements: 108 x 69 even if it was subpar quality paints. Turned into a "painter of the dead", as Enrique Romero de Torres called him, all the gloomy and repulsive matters seemed to suit him, while with romantic overtones the rivalry with Murillo, his contemporary, was enlarged and deepened, by supposing Valdés an angry and arrogant temperament opposed to the peaceful character of his rival. Measurements: 108 x 69