Bartolomé Román

BARTOLOMÉ ROMÁN (Montoro, Córdoba, ca. 1585 - Madrid, 1647)
"Magdalene penitent".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Work exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts of Murcia.
Work reproduced in the catalog "Masters of the Spanish Baroque, Granados Collection, Unpublished Work. Museum of Fine Arts of Murcia. 2020-2021. p. 62.
It presents restorations in the pictorial surface and damages in the frame.
Measurements: 179 x 124 cm; 196 x 170 cm (frame).
The first news about the painter of Cordovan origin, Bartolomé Román or Roman as he sometimes signed his works and documents, we owe it to Antonio Palomino, who tells us erroneously that he was born in Madrid and died in 1659, although in his will he declares himself a native of Montoro (Córdoba). It seems that he was a disciple of Carducho (Palomino:1988, 195) and that he was "one of the most advanced he had". The reality is that one can glimpse the influence Carducho left on him in "his monumental figures and balanced compositions" (Rodríguez Rebollo, A and Martínez Leiva, G, 2011:102). Another of the first references we have of him is from 1614 due to a lawsuit on some paintings in the Pardo, in which he also testifies against Carducho. Of his work as an appraiser we have some references: in 1637 he appraises the pictorial collection of Don Juan de Tamayo (Barrio Moya: 1985, 229) and in 1638 he is called to appraise the collection of Doña Juana de Córdoba y Aragón, Duchess of Sessa. In spite of making works for places of royal foundation, like the Encarnación or the Descalzas, Román does not manage to obtain any distinction. In May 1647 he fell ill and shortly after died in Madrid. During his life he maintained a relationship with different religious orders, which helps to explain why all of his known work is of a sacred type. He himself professed in the Third Order of St. Francis and even his son Luis did so in the Carmelites. It is known of his activity in other cenobiums of Madrid like the destroyed one of Benedictine friars of San Martin. From there could come some representations of Benedictine saints that the Prado Museum preserves today, among which stand out those of San Beda or San Gil, Román's first signed work in 1616. These paintings are reminiscent of those made by his master Carducho for his Trinitarian series on San Juan de Mata. We know that he made the series of angels for the churches of the convent of the Descalzas and the Encarnación in Madrid, as well as those of the church of San Pedro in Lima, which seem to be the oldest and serve as a model for later paintings (García Sainz: 2003, 106) of which there are also remains in the museums of Guadalajara, Palma de Mallorca, or in the Granados Collection; or the series that was in the church of the Mercedarios de Valdelagrana (Puerto de Santa Maria), currently in the museum of the convent of the Padres Mercedarios Descalzos in Las Rozas (Madrid). The chronology of the series of the Descalzas is still under discussion, as it has been affirmed that the Baraquiel is signed in 1604, while others tend to date it around 1614, since by 1618 it was made according to documentary references. Even the later date of 1640 has been suggested (García Sainz, Ana, 2003,107). The formal dependence of Carducho's works is evident and can be seen, for example, in the Angel Jehudiel and the Guardian Angel of the Granados Collection, which has been dated around 1630. Apart from Madrid, works are known in La Rioja (Gutiérrez Pastor, 1983). In the convent of the Servants of Mary in the Chamberí district of Madrid there is a painting of the dream of St. Joseph in which we can observe his style. In the art market we have recently seen another work with the same theme with little variation, as well as a Visitation of the Virgin to St. Elizabeth very close to the style of Roman, in this work, Mary Magdalene penitent, we can see the penitent saint inside a cave. The work comes from the Madrid art market. She is seated with a pink tunic that covers her lower extremities, while her breasts are slightly covered by her long hair. She rests her head on her left arm, while her right arm is held up, as if in dialogue with an angel who has appeared to her in a golden sky (a break in the light opens), handing her some flowers. In the background there is a landscape with a cliff and some beautifully expressed trees of clear Venetian roots. The Venetian and Flemish influences that show the whole of his work have been explained with the contact that Román had with the Royal Collections of painting. The painting must derive from an Italian or Flemish print of the early sixteenth century, as we find the same composition in works by various Spanish artists as in the Magdalene penitent Carreño de Miranda of 1654 (it seems that Roman was his second teacher after Pedro de las Cuevas), now in the Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid or the Magdalene attributed to Francisco Ruiz de la Iglesia 1675-1680 of the Library Museu Victor Balaguer in Villanueva y Geltrú, (Barcelona). The face here, a bit compassionate, is prototypical of certain religious works by Bartolomé Román. Other characteristics such as the fluidity of the brushstroke, the soft coloring, the golden light that envelops the environment, the softness of the forms and the sweetness of the expression of the saint encourage us to think that it was composed by the painter in a period of artistic maturity (Rodríguez Rebollo, A and Martínez Leiva, G, 2011:102). make us date it approximately around 1630. In the Granados Collection itself we have another saint attributed to Bartolomé Román.