Spanish school; late 17th century.
"Portrait of a lady.
Oil on canvas. Re-drawn.
Measurements: 129 x 98,5 cm.
The elimination of the background and the space of the interior being substituted by a neutral and dark tone indicates us that it is a fully baroque portrait, resource that the author uses to monumentalize the figure and to mark more the contrasts between the darkness and the luminosity of the pearly skin of the protagonist. This is a representation of a 17th-century lady, depicted according to the portrait precepts established by Juan Pantoja de la Cruz at the beginning of the 17th century, reminiscent of the official portraits of the time. The woman, dressed in a distinguished dress and rich jewellery, is depicted with details that reveal her to be a lady of the high society of the time, with the bronze of her dress showing a representation of Mary Magdalene. Her pose is elegant and distinguished, while her right hand holds a fan and her right hand grasps a delicate handkerchief. The face is magnificently modelled through the skilful use of light and shade, with appropriate contrasts that enhance the plasticity of the features. The sitter's eyes capture our attention, as her gaze is directed towards ours.
In the 17th century, the panorama of European portraiture was varied and wide-ranging, with numerous influences and largely determined by the taste of both the clientele and the painter himself. However, this century saw the birth of a new concept of portraiture, which evolved over the course of the century and unified all the national schools: the desire to capture the personality and character of the human being, beyond his external reality and social rank, in his effigy. During the previous century, portraiture had become established among the upper classes and was no longer reserved solely for the court. For this reason, as the 17th and even more so in the 18th century, the formulas of the genre became more relaxed and moved away from the ostentatious and symbolic official representations typical of the Baroque apparatus. On the other hand, the 18th century reacted against the rigid etiquette of the previous century with a more human and individual conception of life, and this was reflected in all areas, from furniture, which became smaller and more comfortable, replacing the large gilded and carved pieces of furniture, to the portrait itself, which came to dispense, as we see here, with all symbolic or scenographic elements in order to depict the individual rather than the personage.