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Museo Nacional del Prado
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Video with comments by Leticia Ruiz, Head of the Department of Spanish Renaissance and Early Naturalist Painting, about the Annunciation Altarpiece, by Juan Correa de Vivar as part of the educational programme 'The Prado speaks', an activity that takes place every Friday at noon, in which the museum's professionals comment on works of the collection.
Hello. My name is Leticia Ruiz, Head of the Department of Spanish Renaissance and Early Naturalist Painting.
The three artists represented in this room are thought to have been born in 1510 although there is no documentary proof of this.
As a result, last year saw the 500th anniversary of the births of Juan de Juanes, Luis de Morales
and Juan Correa de Vivar, the latter being the artist who I will be discussing today on the basis of the works that are considered his masterpieces,
namely the Annunciation Altarpiece. This has on occasions been incorrectly referred to as a triptych,
whereas in fact only three elements from it have survived: the central scene and the two closing doors.
Correa lived and worked in the middle years of the 16th century, and would become one of the leading artists in the area of Toledo,
working in the small village of Mascaraque a few kilometres from Toledo.
He trained with the great Toledan master Juan de Borgoña, a painter probably of French origins
who arrived in Toledo in the late 15th century. The work we are looking at today is fully documented,
as the contract between Juan Correa de Vivar and Alonso de Toledo, prior of the Hieronymite monastery of Guisando
in the present-day province of Ávila for which it was made,
was signed in February 1559, six years before the painter’s death in 1566.
It is from this contract that we know, as I mentioned earlier, that the altarpiece was not a triptych but a so-called “niche” altarpiece
that took the form of a sort of cupboard built into the wall. It was, in fact, built into the wall of one of the corners
of the main cloister of the monastery at Guisando.
The contract for it, which was discovered in the provincial archive in Toledo, clearly states the principal points of the commission:
most importantly, the artist was to depict in the centre The Annunciation of the Virgin, while on the inside of the doors
he was to paint Saint Stephen and Saint Lawrence, who are clearly recognisable here by their attributes. On the outside of these doors are two images
clearly related to the monastic life of the Hieronymites: Saint Hilarion Abbot
and The Virgin presenting the Chasuble to Saint Ildefonso.
The depictions of Saint Stephen and Saint Lawrence are spectacular images,
brilliantly devised and already very close to a Raphaelesque Mannerism that is evident in the details of the clothes,
specifically the chasubles, in which Juan de Juanes’ careful manner of execution is clearly revealed.
This is also to be seen in the minute detail of the hair. The artist reveals that when painting in his finest manner he is truly a major figure.
The back of the panels of these two saints were also restored eleven years ago.
Given that they were the closing doors, the external side was more exposed to damp and to problems arising from their location in the cloister,
as well as from earlier restorations. After they were firmly identified as works by Correa,
Saint Stephen and Saint Lawrence were placed on permanent display but in the manner of easel paintings so that the backs could not be seen.
Their restoration at the Prado eleven years ago resulted in the reappearance of two very interesting figures.
This is particularly the case with Saint Hilarion Abbot, who is on the back of the panel of Saint Lawrence.
It is an enormously elegant figure,
with a serpentine pose that almost suggests the sculpture of Polyclitus.
The artist must have looked at numerous prints for inspiration but I consider that the recovery of this figure is extremely important.
Also important is the scene of the Presentation of the Chasuble, but the figure of Saint Hilarion has more character and creative force.
Also striking is the iconography of the Annunciation scene. One particularly interesting detail is the fact that the Virgin
has been interrupted by the Archangel Gabriel while she is reading, which is habitual in depictions of this scene
in which the Virgin is either reading or sewing. In this case she is reading a book
that has not been identified but which has illustrations, one of which depicts a highly significant subject,
that of the Burning Bush from the story of Moses and the Burning Bush.
This is an Old Testament episode in which the flaming bush burned without being consumed.
It thus refers to the fact that the Virgin conceived the Christ Child but still remained intact, or a virgin.
This manner of referring to her virginity would be taken up by other painters in the area of Toledo including Maíno a century later,
and El Greco before that. In the Prado’s Annunciation by El Greco (which you might also like to take a look at),
which is the marvellous version from the Altarpiece of Doña María de Aragón,
we can also see how, at the moment when the Archangel announces to Mary that she will be the mother of Christ,
the Holy Spirit miraculously impregnates her stomach. In El Greco’s version he depicts a burning bush at her feet
rather than as an illustration in a book.
We thus have the same iconographic reference, which clearly became important in Toledo where all these works were produced.
Thank you very much for your attention. Please enjoy looking at the works in your own time.
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