In your X social network account, Segre Auctions reports: «It has just become public that the Prado Museum bought in private sale, for 650,000 euros and through Segre Auctions, the painting ‘Virgin of Mercy with Saint Pedro Nolasco and Saint Ramón Nonato’, by Francisco de Zurbarán (Badajoz, 1598-Madrid, 1664)». It is an oil painting on canvas measuring 166 by 129 centimeters, made by the Extremaduran artist around 1635-1640. In 2015 it was exhibited at the Thyssen Museum within the exhibition ‘Zurbarán. A new look’.
Ceán BermúdezAccording to what he wrote, he saw him in the sacristy of the convent of the Merced Descalza de San José, in Seville. The work left Spain and was present in the famous Spanish painting gallery of Luis-Felipe in the Louvre of Paris between 1838 and 1848, being sold in 1853 with a large part of its collection in Christie’swhere it was acquired by Colnaghi for the king’s son, the Duke of Montpensierwho brought it and kept it in his palace of San Telmo, in Seville. His daughter, the Countess of Paris, took it to her Château de Randan, in Puy-de-Dôme.
When he died it passed to his son, Ferdinand de Orleans (1919-1924), Duke of Montpensier, and was inherited by his widow, María Isabel González de Olañeta e Ibarreta, III Marchioness of Valdeterrazo (1924-1958); by descent he passed to José María Huarte y Jáureguiwidowed marquis of Valdeterrazo (1958-1969); to the collection of Alberto de Huarte Myers and, already in Pamplona, at Huarte Solchaga familyits last owners.
In the center of the painting, dominating the composition, the Virgin and Child, inscribed in a rhombus, with the Virgin wearing the Mercedarian habit, and also the Child’s dress in more grayish white. Above, on the glorious background, in oranges, the heavenly angels, with flowers to crown the Queen. Benito Navarrete He traced its origin to an engraving by Vespasiano Strada for the Virgin and by Jan Muller of compositions by Bartholomeus Spranger for the angels.
Below, on a dark background, a clear metaphor for the earthly, and in a line almost parallel to the top, the holy intercessors. On the left, Saint Pedro Nolasco, tutor of King James I and founder in 1218 of the order of Mercedarians for the redemption of captives, and on the right Saint Ramón Nonato, with the cardinal’s cape. Of both characters, their magnificent faces in profile and their superb hands stand out.
The work appears in the reasoned and critical catalog of the painter, of Odile Delenda‘Francisco de Zurbarán 1598-1664’ (Madrid, 2009). He explains in it that “due to its theme and style, this beautiful canvas was possibly part of the extensive pictorial group that Zurbarán created for the Convent of San José de los Mercedarios Descalzos.” Delenda comments in the catalog that “the geometric composition of the canvas, perfectly symmetricalrhomboidal in shape. María’s beautiful face, with her engrossed eyes typical of Zurbarán, is peaceful and slightly smiling. The Child is also of perfect childlike beauty. He appears standing blessing with his right hand and affectionately clinging to the Virgin’s neck (…) The Extremaduran painter achieves a very personal composition full of poetry and charm.
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