Saint Dorothea

A recent rediscovery, the present work can be added to the group of full length saints painted by Zurbarn and his studio in the mid-seventeenth century. The social and political climate in Seville at this time was poor, in part due to unemployment and poverty as a result of the war between France and Spain which had started in 1635, and which had made trade between Spain and her possessions in the New World difficult. However, the economic climate was exacerbated by a plague which ravaged Spain between 1649 and 1652, wiping out half the population of Seville in 1649, including Francisco's twenty-nine year old son, Juan. Patrons were hard to come by, but Zurbarn continued to receive important commissions at home, and to paint for the South American market where he had been well established since the late 1630s. In 1647 he received an order from the Abbess of the Convent of La Encarnacin in the city of Los Reyes (Lima), Peru, which included twenty-five life-size images of virgin saints (Archivo de Protocolos, Seville, Oficio 14, cited in Lpez Martnez, Desde Martinz Montanes hasta Pedro Roln, 1932, p. 224). In 1649 a further contract with Argentine patrons included the production of fifteen pictures of 'Virgin Martyrs', fifteen 'Kings and Famous Men', twenty-four life size 'Saints and Patriachs' and nine 'Dutch landscapes' (see M.L. Caturla, 'Zurbarn exporta a Buenos Aires', Anales del Instituto de Arte Americano e Investigaciones Estticas, 4, 1951, pp. 27-30).

Zurbarn had painted his first full length female saints c.1625-30 (see, for instance, Saint Agatha, Muse Fabre, Montpellier (51 x 24in). His selection of specific saints popular in the Iberian peninsula, such as Saints Casilda, Dorothea, Elizabeth of Portugal and Justa, above those more commonly seen in Spanish art of this time suggest that he was sensitive to the nationalistic concerns of his patrons. The sources for these works were widespread but probably included an existing tradition in portraiture 'a lo divino', engravings, theatrical presentations of 'Autos Sacramentales' and 'Comedias de Santos' and, above all, religious processions which were frequent occurrences in the streets of Seville in Zurbarn's time. Although a few examples exist of this type of image forming part of an altarpiece (see, fom example, the main altarpiece of the collegiate church of Guadalajara attributed to Matas Ximeno), Maria Luisa Caturla believed these paintings would not have been designed for this purpose, rather, that they would have been placed in intervals along the nave of the church, as in a procession. She saw them as deriving from the processions of Corpus Christi festivals, which were like theatrical productions in which actors, assigned the roles of saints, paraded through the streets (see M.L. Caturla in the catalogue Exposicin Zurbarn en el III centenario de su muerte, Casn del Buen Retiro, Madrid, Nov. 1964-Feb. 1965, pp. 50-3, and J. Baticle, in the catalogue of the exhibition Zurbaran, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Sept. 22-Dec. 13, 1987, pp. 152-4). Orozco Daz has suggested that some of the virgin martyrs may be allegorical portraits of noblewomen, and cites contemporary literary evidence (E. Orozco Daz, 'El retrato a lo divino, su influencia, y unas obras de Risueo', in Goya, 120, May-June 1974, pp. 351-8).

Zurbarn's elegantly dressed female saints, some executed with assistance from painters within his highly talented studio, are among his most attractive paintings. The placing of these images within Zurbarn's oeuvre has varied from Jos Gudiol's monograph of 1977 through to the present day. On the basis of a transparency Odile Delenda dates the present painting to circa 1648-58 and believes that there may be a degree of workshop participation. Professor Enrique Valdivieso (also from a transparency) believes this painting to be a fully autograph painting by Francisco de Zurbarn and dates it to circa 1650. Though the present work is unrecorded, Paul Guinard lists five autograph versions of Saint Dorothea of which all but one can be securely placed (P. Guinard, Zurbaran, 1960, p. 238).

This painting continues the tradition established by Zurbarn and his studio in the 1630s. In particular it recalls the Saint Apollonia (45 x 26in.) in the Muse du Louvre, Paris, and the Saint Casilda (67 x 42in.) in the Fundacin Coleccin Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, dated by Odile Delenda to 1630-4, and 1640-50 respectively (O. Delenda, Zurbaran, 1994, pp. 93 and 186-7). Together with the paintings of Saint Justa (45 x 42in.) and Saint Casilda (47 x 43.1/8in.) in Kingston Lacey, Dorset (The National Trust), ibid., p. 186, also from this second period, the present work shows the same concerns with composition and structure. In all, the play of light and shadow on the face and neck, the emergence of the figure from the monochrome background, and the realization of the sumptuous fabrics in volumetric terms, are rendered with great sensuality. There is a similar treatment of the face: delicate features, a clearly defined profile, and a porcelain complexion. The black hair frames the face and the body bends forward to lend a gentle humility to the image. Here, her attribute, the basket of roses and apples, are given as much notice as the fine tooling on her gold belt.

Saint Dorothea, a Christian saint and virgin martyr of Caesarea, a city of Cappadocia in Asia Minor, was condemned to death by the Roman Governor, Fabricius, circa 303, for refusing to recant her beliefs. Acording to the Golden Legend she was accosted on the way to her execution by a scribe named Theophilus who mockingly asked her to send him roses and apples from the garden of her heavenly bridegroom. After her death a child appeared to Theophilus and presented him with a basket of roses and apples and, as a result, he converted to Christianity.

The present work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonn of Zurbarn's paintings by Odile Delenda. We are grateful to both Odile Delenda and Professor Enrique Valdivieso for their assistance in cataloguing this painting.