Spanish school; second half of the 17th century.

Spanish school; second half of the 17th century.
"Dolorosa".
Oil on canvas. Re-drawn.
It presents losses and restorations on the pictorial surface.
Measurements: 104 x 83 cm.
In this work the artist places the figure of the Virgin in her invocation as a sorrowful in a theatrical space where the use of the trompe l'oeil has a great presence as it can be appreciated through the curtains that hold two little angels and the lower area that the author recreates, in the window sill. It is right in this area where one can read "tuam ipsius animam pertransivit gladius" (your own soul pierced by a sword).
Devotion to the sorrows of the Virgin has its roots in medieval times, and was especially spread by the Servite order, founded in 1233. There are many and varied iconographic representations whose central theme is the Virgin Mary in her Sorrowful aspect, the first of which depicts her next to the Child Jesus, who sleeps oblivious to the future suffering that awaits him. The cross, the main symbol of the Passion, is usually present in these works, even embraced by the Child, while Mary looks on with a pathetic expression. Another aspect is that which forms part of the Pieta, similar to the previous one although her Son is here dead, not asleep, depicted as an adult and after his crucifixion. In the oldest representations of this theme, Christ's body appears disproportionately small, as a symbol of the mother's memory of her Son's childhood, when she contemplated him asleep on her lap.