Spanish school (XVII) - Cristo coronado de espinas

An oil painting of high quality from the Andalusian school, dated between 1650 and 1700, a period of full development of Spanish Baroque. The work depicts Christ crowned with thorns, an essential iconography of seventeenth-century devotional painting, conceived for intimate contemplation and spiritual recollection.

The composition centers on the bust of Christ, cut out against a dark, uniform background that concentrates all attention on the face. The expression, of restrained pathos, is built through the elevated gaze, the delicately modeled features, and the gentle transition between light and shadow, elements characteristic of the great Andalusian painting tradition of the period.

The treatment of flesh tones, warm and well blended, as well as the careful execution of the hair, the beard, and the crown of thorns, reveal an expert hand, trained in the naturalist models spread in Andalusia during the second half of the seventeenth century. The painterly language is set in a realm close to that of Mateo Cerezo (1637–1666) and his circle, a historical attribution that was formerly assigned to the work and cannot be ruled out, given the appreciable stylistic affinities.

The painting has been relined, a routine conservation intervention on old works that guarantees the stability of the support. It is presented framed, ready for exhibition.

A work of notable expressive power and high devotional quality, especially appealing to collectors of Spanish Baroque painting, with evident potential for study and value appreciation.