Vicente Carducho Circle

Circle of VICENTE CARDUCHO (Florence, 1576-Madrid, 1638); XVII century.
"Cell cross".
Oil on panel.
Measurements: 62 x 42 cm.
This representation of the Crucified follows the precepts of the cell crosses, of the type that was placed inside the cells of the monks. As usual for this typology and time, the cross is of rectilinear sections, unadorned and worked in an illusionist way, with a typically baroque painting, of tenebrist light and pathetic expression. Christ appears in the center, with a deformed anatomy in an expressive way that denotes the survival of mannerism even in the 17th century. The illumination is halfway between baroque tenebrism and the artificial light of mannerism, and in any case creates an illusionist game that is very much in keeping with baroque sensibility. At his feet we see a representation of Adam's skull. Cell crosses are a type of devotional work very abundant in Spanish and Latin American convents and monasteries in the 17th and 18th centuries. However, it is not common for them to contain the signature of their author as in this case.
Vicente Carducho was a painter and treatise writer of Italian origin, although his artistic activity was developed in Spain, specifically in the Madrid school. His training as a painter of frescoes and altarpieces stands out, reflecting his language halfway between classicism and post-Renaissance mannerism. His first great work, the Preaching of St. John the Baptist for the Monastery of San Francisco in Madrid, was understood as a very daring piece for the time, a fact that denotes the importance of Carducho within the complex path within the history of art. Following the death of his brother Bartolomé Carduchó, painter of the court of Philip II in Spain, Vicente was in charge of the decoration of one of the galleries of the Royal Palace of El Pardo, making the works referring to the exploits of Achilles. Later he began his career as court painter of Philip III, collaborating in important works such as the High Altar of the Monastery of Guadalupe (Cáceres) and the altarpiece of the Monastery of the Incarnation (Madrid). Until the arrival of Velázquez, he was the most influential representative of the Madrid school in painting, thus exposing his artistic conceptions and being the teacher of artists such as Francisco Fernández, Pedro de Obregón, Francisco Collantes, Bartolomé Román and Félix Castello.