Mateo Gallardo

MATEO GALLARDO (Madrid?, ca. 1600 - Madrid, 1667)
"Jael and Sisara".
Oil on canvas. Re-drawn.
It presents slight faults on the pictorial surface.
Signed in the lower right area.
Provenance: Collection Fórum Filatélico, Madrid and Private Collection of Madrid.
Measurements: 145 x 163 cm; 156 x 172 cm (frame).
Bibliography
- Angulo Íñiguez, Diego, and Pérez Sánchez, Alfonso E., Historia de la pintura española. Escuela madrileña del segundo tercio del siglo XVII, Madrid, Instituto Diego Velázquez, csic, 1983, p. 67.
- Mónica Walker Vadillo, Jael y Sísara, Digital database of Medieval Iconography, Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
With two works in the collection of the Prado Museum, this painting of excellent quality presents the biblical moment in which Jael, the wife of Barak the Kenite, invites Sisera (Jabin's general) to rest in her tent after the battle between the Israelites and the subjects of King Jabin of Canaan. When he falls asleep, Jael drives a stake through his temple; fulfilling the words of the prophetess Deborah, who foretold that General Sisera would die by the hand of a woman and not by the sword of Barak. This Old Testament passage is considered by medieval exegetes to be a prefiguration of the Virgin defeating the devil. Other painters were interested in this theme, such as Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1656) and Jacopo Vignali (1592-1664). Compositionally, we see General Sisera on the ground, dead, while Jael picks up his tunic under the attentive gaze of her husband. The clothing of the various figures is richly coloured. The spotlight on the left-hand side of the painting depicts different tones on the skin of the sitters. These flesh tones are very restrained, and without being monumental, they are worked in great detail. On the far left, a window opens onto a landscape that adds depth to the scene. The thick folds of the costumes are meticulously treated, lending solemnity to a narrative scene with a profound emotional sense.
Mateo Gallardo was a Spanish Baroque painter based in Madrid. Of his works, only one signed and dated canvas survives: The Martyrdom of Saint Catherine (1653, Museo de Bellas Artes de Asturias). His painting is characterised by vivid colouring and the rounded forms of a very elaborate drawing. He is therefore considered to be a painter of the late Mannerist aesthetic. Among his best-known works is the main altarpiece of Plasencia Cathedral.