Corrado Giaquinto Circle

Circle of CORRADO GIAQUINTO (Italy, 1703 - 1765/66).
"Immaculate Conception".
Oil on canvas.
Measurements: 147 x 103 cm; 184 x 145 cm (frame).
The finish of this work, especially in the upper area, shows us an image that was possibly conceived as part of the ornamentation of a specific architectural element. The theme, of great popularity at the time, represents the devotional scene of the Immaculate Conception, very frequent in the Spanish art of the 17th century, which became one of the national identity signs of Spain as a Catholic country. It is one of the most genuinely local themes of Spanish Baroque painting, given that our country was the main defender of this mystery, and the one that fought most insistently to make it a dogma of faith. In this context, numerous artists and intellectuals worked to build a clear iconography that would help spread the Immaculate Conception, bringing together symbolism and popular fervor. Based on the previous advances of painters such as Juan de Juanes, it was Murillo who built the definitive image of the Immaculate Conception, finding a formula that allowed him to bring together in one image all the necessary features.
Due to its formal characteristics, the present work is attributed to the artistic circle of Corrado Giaquinto, an Italian painter of the XVIII century considered as the maximum representative of Rococo painting in Rome at the time. Due to his compositional mastery and his masterful use of color, the Italian artist became a point of reference for several generations of Spanish painters. The maximum representative of Rococo painting in Rome in the first half of the 18th century, Giaquinto's work was a point of reference for several generations of Spanish painters. Appointed chamber painter to Ferdinand VI in 1753, until 1762, he was also artistic director of the Royal Tapestry Factory of Santa Barbara and general director of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando. His language, which starts from rococo to evolve in an increasingly classical sense, is characterized by its great scenographic sense and its chromatic subtleties of extraordinary beauty. Here these two features are clearly evident; the composition is totally theatrical, with the clarity that defends classicism combined with the elegant and graceful dynamism of rococo. The stage is organized in depth, playing with the position of the cumulus clouds and looking for the naturalistic representation of the space, with a scenographic sense inherited from the baroque. Giaquinto's is a rococo of classical influence, and his works will increasingly denote a more solid classicism: compositions of greater spatial clarity, as we see here, populated by solemn figures of lively gestures.