Museo Carmen Thyssen

During the Baroque period in Spain the Catholic reaction to the Protestant Reformation gave rise to an art based on realistic and highly dramatic images whose purpose was to inspire devotion through highly emotionally charged depictions of saintliness. This context, in what was known as the Spanish Golden Age (the 17th century), saw the emergence of a notable group of great masters ranging from Ribera, Velázquez and Murillo to the Extremadura-born Francisco Zurbarán (1598–1664).  The work of Zurbarán, the subject of this exhibition, represents a type of religiosity that is gentle and familiar, yet equally moving.

The Saint Marina from the Museo Carmen Thyssen Málaga’s permanent collection, painted around 1640–50, is the starting point for this show: a selection of female saints by Zurbarán that epitomise the brilliant contribution he made to Baroque devotional iconography by creating these archetypes of female saintliness. This repertoire of beautiful, serene women saints embodied models of faith and a pure, virtuous life and prompted the faithful to devotion, meditation and prayer in a less gruesome way than images of female penitents and hermits. Zurbarán's painterly skills, visible in the naturalism of the features and the virtuosic depiction of the clothing, are one of his distinguishing features in this genre.

Although their iconographies differ, the pictures shown here are based on the same compositional model that Zurbarán and his workshop repeated in countless commissions. Standing, splendidly dressed in the fashions of the time and carrying objects related to their hagiographies or generic devotional accessories, the saints are silhouetted against dark backgrounds. Their faces, expertly lit, are emphasised in these representations in semi-darkness, engaging with viewers or engrossed in meditation. These monumental figures, arranged in a row, also form a silent procession of saints transformed into earthly beings.

The series of saints on loan from the Museo de Bellas Artes in Seville – eight canvases out of an original total of twelve, from the Hospital de las Cinco Llagas in that city (c. 1640–50) – illustrates the extraordinary commercial success paintings of this type enjoyed. Zurbarán himself and his skilled assistants tirelessly made replicas and versions of them due to the high demand from a large clientele of religious and welfare establishments in both Andalusia and the Americas, especially during the artist’s mature period. In contrast to these examples of studio products, the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza’s Saint Casilda (c. 1635) is a superb example of the autograph works that served as models for replicas and versions.

Francisco de Zurbarán. Saint Casilda, ca. 1635. Oil on canvas, 171 x 107 cm. Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
Francisco de Zurbarán. Saint Marina, ca. 1640-1650. Oil on canvas, 111 x 88 cm. Colección Carmen Thyssen en préstamo gratuito al Museo Carmen Thyssen Málaga.