Pedro Nuñez del Valle

PEDRO NUÑEZ DEL VALLE (around 1590-1649).
"The good shepherd".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Work reproduced in: Quesada Valera, J. Mª. Pedro Núñez del Valle, roman academic. Ars Magazine nº 19 Madrid 2013 pp. 99 y 100.
It has slight restorations and patches.
Measurements: 115 x 151 cm; 130 x 165 cm (frame).
A Flemish-inspired landscape shows the figure of Christ dressed in a pink tunic with a lamb carried on his shoulders. A representation that comes from classical antiquity with reference to the Hermes Cyrophorus. Aesthetically the work presents similarities with the painting of Pedro Nuñez del Valle, specifically with the work "Noli me tangere", belonging to the collection of the Prado Museum in Madrid. Regarding the theme, the scene presents the idea of the good shepherd, very repeated in Christian art, and has its roots in ancient Western art. As for its meaning, the good shepherd is a biblical allegory, originally referring to Yahweh and later to Jesus Christ. It is interpreted that the good shepherd is God, who saves the lost sheep (the sinner).
Pedro Núñez was a painter of the Madrid school and trained in Rome. He is considered by Lázaro Díaz del Valle as a disciple of Vicente Carducho, and Pérez Sánchez includes him among the Spanish Caravaggistas. It is known that the painter traveled to Italy, as there is documentation of his stay in Rome between 1613 and 1614, where he began his training at the Academy of San Lucas. In Italy he came into contact with the style of Guido Reni, showing special interest in his compositions and tenebrist illumination. In Madrid he worked for the conventual environments, as in the series for the Merced, carried out together with Eugenio Cajés, Antonio de Lanchares and Juan van der Hamen. In 1627 he applied for a position as the king's painter, although he was unsuccessful. After working in the decoration of the hermitage of San Juan del Buen Retiro, in 1639 he participated in the decoration of the Salón de Comedias of the Alcázar of Madrid, making for this occasion the double portrait of Felipe III and Felipe IV. The year of his death he was among Francisco Rizi's co-workers in the works of the Buen Retiro Coliseum. From his hand we know works such as Jael and Sísara (National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin), which demonstrate a certain archaizing clumsiness, but at the same time incorporate novel Italianizing references, reminiscent of artists such as Cecco da Caravaggio. The same happens with Camino del Calvario, preserved in the collegiate church of Talavera de la Reina (Toledo), which combines classicist elements with figures of clear Caravaggian reference. In his compositions plays an important role the landscape development, which brings him closer to masters of this genre as Francisco Collantes, combining Italian and Flemish elements.