Spanish School XVII century.

Spanish School XVII century."Portrait of Doña Blanca de Coloma daughter of Juan Francisco de Coloma, Mr. of Elda and Doña Catalina de Cardona, granddaughter of Don Alonso de Cardona, Admiral of Aragon".Oil on canvas.It presents Repainting.Measurements: 125 x 90 cm, 131 x 97 cm (frame).
We see in this canvas the portrait of a lady of the Spanish nobility, identified by the coat of arms and the cartouche, which are located in the lower area. She wears a rich dress, whose screwed shades the painter recreates with agile and impastoed brushstrokes. In her hair she wears rich jewels indicating the purchasing power of the young woman.
The Spain of the 17th century, and especially the second third of the century, was one of the places and moments in which a more important reflection on the frontiers and meanings of portraiture took place. Francisco Pacheco, in his artistic treatise (1649), defends the creative values of portraiture, which he considers a genre that not only requires imitative ability, but also inventiveness. To support his arguments with historical examples, he mentions Apelles, the most famous painter of Antiquity, who devoted himself mainly to depicting Alexander the Great. However, the most effective contributor to raising the dignity of the portrait genre will be Velázquez, who achieved this not only through the quality of his works, but also through some paintings in which he explicitly reflects on the subject, and even through his own vital attitude. Velázquez gradually acquired a clear awareness of his condition as a portraitist, and also of the importance of it, regardless of the fact that he occasionally ventured into other genres. This is suggested by the fact that on his second trip to Italy (1648-51), instead of trying to measure himself against the great painters working in Rome by making monumental history paintings (as he had done on his first trip), he only painted portraits, such as the portrait of the pontiff Innocent X.