Non venu

Spanish school of the early seventeenth century. "Christ crucified with Mary Magdalene". Oil on canvas.

Spanish school of the early seventeenth century.
"Christ crucified with Mary Magdalene".
Oil on canvas.
Important frame of the eighteenth century.
Size: 172 x 95 cm; 200 x 120 cm (frame).
We see in this canvas an image of devotional character, mainly due to its subject matter and composition, which absolutely focuses the attention on the two characters, enveloping the scene in a nuanced penumbra. Christ and the Magdalene appear in the foreground, large, against a background of nocturnal landscape, ominous and expressive, typically baroque, emotional echo of the scene that takes place in the foreground. This background starts from a very low horizon on the right side, differentiated by the reddish light of the sunset, and rises to almost half the height of the canvas on the left side, compensating for the location of the figure of the saint on one side. Around the torso of Christ the sky opens up, the storm clouds swirl around an attenuated clarity, a reflection of the divine light.
The figures are modeled through a clearly tenebrist light, directed, focused, artificial and highly contrasted, which creates expressive chiaroscuro and accentuates the baroque drama of the scene. Christ's skin is warm, still reflecting his vital breath, enhancing the suffering of the human Christ. Next to him, a very delicate Magdalena of pearly skin and face reddened by suffering, whose beautiful and stylized hands appear crossed on her chest as a sign of prayer.