Monumental Virgin of Solitude, Juan Valdés Leal (Seville, 1622-1690) 17th century

Monumental Virgin of Solitude, Juan Valdés Leal (Seville, 1622-1690) 17th century
Oil on canvas. Measurements: 53 x 40 cm. Framed measurements: 71 x 58 cm. (Seville, 1622-1690). Spanish painter and printmaker. Strictly a contemporary artist of Murillo, he was his greatest pictorial rival in the Seville of his time. The comparison between both painters has been frequent, artificially encouraged by the character of the works of both: if Murillo's was seen as the very expression of the sweetness and calm, the harshness and drama of the work of Valdés Leal and, Above all, the extreme truculence of his best-known works, the vanitas of the Church of La Caridad in Seville, serve to confirm the dichotomy. But, despite the difficult character with which he appears portrayed in the sources, the truth is that Valdés Leal's work is quite varied and is in line with the painting that was done around him. We do not know when he moved to Córdoba, although he had presumably already completed his first artistic training in his hometown. There has been speculation about his approach to the workshop of Herrera the Elder, and also to the art of Antonio del Castillo from Córdoba, as possible influences for his first known signed and dated work, the San Andrés of the church of San Francisco de Córdoba, from 1647. Bibliography: Valdés Leal, cat. exp., Madrid, Museo del Prado, 1991, nos. 10, 20, 54 and 81. Provenance: important private Spanish collection.