Peruvian school; second half of the XVII century.

Peruvian school; second half of the XVII century.
"The encounter of Christ and Veronica".
Oil on canvas.
Presents faults and restorations.
Measurements: 39 x 61.5 cm.
The scene represented here, which would later give rise to the iconography of the Santa Faz, typical of devotional painting, is an episode that occurred during the Passion of Christ, when on the way to Calvary a woman took off her veil to dry with it the face of the Messiah. The image of the face of Jesus Christ was imprinted on the linen handkerchief, and it was miraculously preserved through the centuries, becoming an object of worship. The woman would later be called Veronica, whose etymology derives from the Latin "verum" (true) and the Greek "eikon" (image).

The Peruvian Colonial School developed between the XVI and XVIII centuries after the arrival of the Spaniards to the country and as a result of the influence of three great currents, the Spanish, the Italian and the Flemish. The Catholic religion acquired great importance as it had a decisive evangelizing function, so that biblical themes, such as the one presented in the auction, proliferated following European techniques and models. It is worth mentioning that, during the Spanish colonial domination, a mainly religious painting was developed, aimed at Christianizing the indigenous peoples. Local artists were modeled on Spanish works, which they followed literally in terms of types and iconography. The most frequent models were the harquebusier angels and the triangular virgins, however, in the early years of the 19th century, already in times of independence and political opening of some of the colonies, several artists began to represent a new model of painting with its own identity.