Spanish school, late 16th century.
"Judas Thaddeus".
Oil on canvas.
It presents craquelados.
Measurements: 108 x 80 cm; 127 x 99,5 cm (frame).
Judas Thaddeus was represented by the main baroque painters, such as Van Dyck or José Ribera. This painting belongs to a transitional period between the Renaissance and the Baroque, close to Mannerist postulates. The figure's good-natured face has been carefully modelled by intense contrasts of light. The play of chiaroscuro enhances the brilliance of the metal blade held in his right hand: it symbolises the knife with which the apostle was beheaded. The frank, concerned gaze of the figure is particularly well captured psychologically. The flesh tones, slightly rosy on the cheeks, are imbued with a tenebrist naturalism characteristic of the period. The red cloak and green tunic take on velvety tones in the cold light. The hands, with their gnarled fingers, share the expressiveness of the face. During the Counter-Reformation, series of Apostles became quite popular, generally depicting them half-length, against a neutral background and bearing their iconographic attributes. They were, on the one hand, a derivation of the late medieval altarpieces, whose benches and streets usually depicted isolated saints, full- and half-length.