School of LUIS DE MORALES "The Divine" (Badajoz, 1509 - Alcántara, 1586)."Virgin".Oil on canvas.

School of LUIS DE MORALES "The Divine" (Badajoz, 1509 - Alcántara, 1586).
"Virgin".
Oil on canvas. Re-drawn.
It presents restorations.
It has a 19th century frame, c. 1830.
Measurements: 48 x 37 cm; 55 x 44 cm (frame).
In the Virgin's face we can also appreciate a shadow of sadness, accentuated by those clothes, which relates this work, in which the Child is absent, with the suffering of Jesus on the Cross. The tormented atmosphere in which Morales's figures breathe depicts a self-absorbed Virgin with an intense interior life, full of melancholy and ascetic renunciation, the fruit of the religious climate imposed by the Reformation movements in Spain at the time of Morales, such as mysticism and trentism. The work also denotes the Mannerist style that characterised the painter from Extremadura, with slightly elongated figures, although it presents a perfect and delicate beauty, whose face shows the influence of Raphael Sanzio, which was absorbed through the Dutch and German Mannerists.
Due to the aforementioned formal characteristics, this painting can be related to the circle of Luis de Morales, nicknamed the Divine by his first biographer, Antonio Palomino, due to the fact that he painted religious subjects with great delicacy and subtlety. Luis de Morales is considered, along with El Greco, to be one of the finest Spanish painters of the second half of the 16th century. Although there are no documentary sources or evidence of his youth, Antonio Palomino describes him as a disciple of the Flemish painter Pedro de Campaña, who lived in Seville between 1537 and 1563. This link is feasible due to the meticulousness and detailed brushstrokes characteristic of Divino, who in turn developed landscapes of Flemish heritage in his works. He travelled to Valencia to learn about the novelties contributed by the Leonardesque Fernando Yáñez and Fernando de Llanos and the Raphaelesque Vicente and Juan Masip, where he in turn became acquainted with the Lombard tradition of Bernardino Luini and Cristoforo Solario. Luis de Morales thus became one of the key painters in the history of art due to the human types depicted in his works. He extended his production to Portugal, especially to Évora and Elvas, cities near his native city of Badajoz. He settled in this city in 1539, after having worked in Plasencia, an area where there was a mixture of artists and influences from Flanders and Castile, basic characteristics for understanding Morales's painting, as well as knowledge of artists such as Alonso Berruguete and Sebastiano del Piombo. From 1570 to 1570 is his most fruitful period due to the production of numerous altarpieces, triptychs and isolated canvases, which had an enormous diffusion due to the satisfaction of the religiosity of the time, although the Extremaduran artist also demonstrates his erudite character in his canvases, as a result of his contact with enlightened clients such as the bishops of the diocese of Badajoz. Due to his enormous output and the constant demand for his iconographic themes, Morales was obliged to maintain a large workshop in which his two sons, Cristóbal and Jerónimo, collaborated. His works are now to be found in the most important collections around the world, including the Prado Museum. His presence in the latter has recently led the Spanish art gallery to devote an entire exhibition to him, curated by Leticia Ruiz, head of the Prado Museum's Department of Spanish Renaissance Painting.