Immaculate Virgin in Glory, attributed to Juan Sánchez Cotán (Orgaz, Toledo, 1560-Granada, 1627), Spanish school of ...

Immaculate Virgin in Glory, attributed to Juan Sánchez Cotán (Orgaz, Toledo, 1560-Granada, 1627), Spanish school of the 17th century
Oil on board, framed. Table measurements: 34 x 25 cm. Framed measurements: 52 x 44 cm. First Spanish painter whose still lifes we know, mostly painted before 1603. Baptized in the parish church of his hometown on June 25, 1560, he lived and worked in Toledo. It is possible that he was a disciple of Blas de Prado, a painter who enjoys the distinction of being the first documented Spanish still life painter, but of whom no works of that genre have been identified. Part of Sánchez Cotán's family resided in Orgaz (Toledo); In Alcázar de San Juan (Ciudad Real) lived his brother Alonso Sánchez Cotán, sculptor, and his two artist sons, Alonso, also a sculptor and assembler, and Damián, a gilder and stew. The central event in Sánchez Cotán's life was his decision, at the age of forty-three, of leaving Toledo to become a Carthusian. It is surprising that in the documentation of his Toledo career there is no mention of disciples or assistants. His inventory includes portraits and copies of Venetian paintings for private collectors, as well as landscapes. Of some sixty paintings reviewed in that document, half were religious subjects, eleven portraits and only nine still lifes. Judging by that, the devotional easel paintings would be a basic production of the artist, generally pious images of the Virgin and saints rather than narrative scenes. Those he made in Toledo present a fully formed, refined and sweet style of figures, derived from the painters of the El Escorial school, which remained virtually unchanged throughout his career. There is no doubt, however, that the truly notable aspect of Sánchez Cotán's art, as was already recognized in the 17th century, were his still lifes. Reference bibliography: Cherry, Peter, Art and nature. The Spanish still life in the golden century, Madrid, Foundation to Support the History of Hispanic Art, 1999. Provenance: important private Valencian collection.