Attributed to José Gutiérrez de la Vega

Attributed to JOSÉ GUTIÉRREZ DE LA VEGA (Seville, 1791 - Madrid, 1865).
"Magdalene Penitent".
Oil on canvas.
Relined.
Measurements: 83 x 57 cm.

Due to its similarity with devotional paintings by the same author, an artist of the Romantic period and fervent follower of Murillo, this Magdalene Penitent is attributed to José Gutiérrez de la Vega. As was usual in his work, the half-length saint in the foreground receives direct lighting that contrasts with the dark background and makes her smooth skin glow. She holds a crucifix in her hands and adopts a warm countenance. Her beautiful eyes sparkle with rapture. As usual in the iconography of the saint, she is represented in her period of penance in the desert,

José Gutiérrez de la Vega trained between 1802 and 1807 at the Academia de Bellas Artes de Santa Isabel de Hungría, in Seville. He began to paint portraits in 1816, being in his first works already evident the vividness of tones and flesh tones typically Murilloesque that, as some commentator says, began to give him a reputation. Between 1818 and 1820 he stopped attending the Academy and dedicated himself to making copies of Murillo, daring with the most complicated canvases of the master, from whose sale he lived. However, he re-enrolled in 1821, perhaps thinking of devoting himself to teaching. Indeed, in 1925 he was appointed assistant painter. However, a few years later, in 1831, he decided to go to Madrid to try his luck at court. He was an academician of merit of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, although he never achieved the position of chamber painter, since it was only possible to access it when there were vacancies. After the creation of the Liceo Artístico y Literario de Madrid, Gutiérrez de la Vega became one of its most active members. He was also appointed director of the School of Fine Arts in Seville, a position he held from 1839 to 1847 when, due to his prolonged stays in Madrid, he had to leave. Later he was appointed professor of the elementary studies attached to the Royal Academy of San Fernando. Gutiérrez de la Vega lived mainly from portraiture, painting the effigies of prominent figures such as Isabel II (as an adult and as a child), the Marquis of Almonacid, the English traveler Richard Ford or Maria Cristina, widow of Ferdinand VII. However, his passion for Murillo's work led him to focus also on religious painting, a production in which his Inmaculadas stand out. Apart from portraiture and religious themes, this artist occasionally cultivated genre painting. Gutiérrez de la Vega is currently represented in the Prado Museum, the Royal Academy of San Fernando, the Ministries of Development and Industry in Madrid, the Provincial Museum of Fine Arts in Malaga and the Romantic Museum in Madrid, among others.