Spanish school, 18th century.

Spanish School, 18th century.
"Saint Thomas" and "Saint Jacob".
Pair of oil paintings on copper.
Measurements: 24 x 18 cm; 36 x 30 cm (frame), each one.
The first work represents Saint Thomas, the unbelieving apostle and the second "Saint James". Both pieces have a closed iconography and composition with a neutral background, following a model that was frequent in the devotional painting of the late Renaissance, and that can be seen in the series of the apostles of El Greco. The light falls only on the body, so that it is modeled fragment by fragment through games of chiaroscuro, and makes it emerge from a dark background. The flesh tones, subtly shimmering, pulsate with a naturalistic breath, which also permeates the expression, the yellow tunic and the hair. The achieved verism endows the character with psychological depth. During the Counter-Reformation, the series of Apostles became quite popular, generally depicting them half-length, on a neutral background and carrying their iconographic attributes. They were, on the one hand, a derivation of the late-medieval altarpieces, whose benches and streets used to represent isolated saints, full and half-bodied.