17th century Spanish school. "Infant Jesus with the instruments of the Passion". Oil on copper....

17th century Spanish school. "Infant Jesus with the instruments of the Passion". Oil on copper. Measurements: 17 x 13 cm.

17th century Spanish school.
"Infant Jesus with the instruments of the Passion".
Oil on copper.
Measurements: 17 x 13 cm.
The one we present here is a devotional work, a type of religious painting destined to the private devotion, generally works of small format, often painted on copper, with themes close to the popular devotion. It depicts the Infant Jesus with the instruments of the Passion, holding the cross and the crown of thorns, and accompanied by a basket in which we see the nails, the hammer, the whip of his scourging and a palm, symbol of martyrdom.
Throughout its history, and especially in the Modern Age, Christian art delighted in casting the shadow of the cross over the innocent infancy of Jesus. The contrast between the happy unconcern of a child and the horror of the sacrifice to which he was predestined was designed to stir hearts. This idea was already familiar to the theologians of the Middle Ages, but the artists of the time expressed it discreetly, either through the Virgin's preoccupied expression or through the bunch of grapes which the Child is clutching in his hands. It was above all in the art of the Counter-Reformation that this funeral presentiment of the Passion was expressed by means of transparent allusions, as we see here.