(Avilés 1614–1685 Madrid)
Saint Anthony of Padua and the Infant Christ,
signed and dated: Ju. CAREÑO/ F. AÑO 1656,
oil on canvas, 107 x 95.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
León Adolfo Laffitte Maurin, Madrid Xavier Laffitte Charlesteguy, Madrid;
inheritance by Cirilo Tórnos Laffitte, Madrid;
acquired in the 1930s by Joaquín Payá;
European private collection, Madrid

Exhibited:
Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, Rizi, Herrera y la pintura madrileña de su tiempo, January – March 1986, cat, no. 14

Literature:
F. J. Sánchez Cantón, Pinturas y esculturas de colecciones malagueñas, exhibition catalogue, Madrid, 1944, cat. no. 51;
M. S. Soria and G. Kubler (eds.), Art and Architecture in Spain and Portugal and their American Dominions 1500–1800, Harmondsworth 1959, p. 285;
R. A. Marzolf (ed.), The Life and Work of Juan Carreño de Miranda 1614–1685, Ann Arbor 1961, p. 127;
L. Castañón, Pintores asturianos I (Carreño), Oviedo 1970, p. 84;
J. Urrea Fernández, ‘Una pintura de Carreño y otra de Van de Pere en Valldolid’, Boletín del Seminario de estudios de arte y arquelogía, Valladolid 1977, pp. 488–490;
A. E. Pérez Sánchez, Juan Carreño de Miranda 1614–1685, Madrid-Avilés 1985, p. 50

The present signed and dated work belongs to the early maturity of Juan Carreño de Miranda. It represents a subject typical of the Spanish artist: Saint Anthony of Padua and the Christ Child, the latter, supported by cherubs and reaching out to touch the saint’s face. Such iconography was popular amongst Spanish patrons and was intended for private devotion. Carreño executed a similar painting, with some variants, for the Capuchin convent in Madrid (see op. cit. Urrea Fernández, 1977, pp. 488–490). The model serving as the Christ Child was to reoccur in other works by the artist, with the large proportions of the figure used to emphasize the sacred importance of the Child as the tangible manifestation of divinity.

The present painting can be compared stylistically to other works executed by the artist in the same period, including the Penitent Magdalen and Saint Sebastian in the Real Accademia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid (inv. no. 0638) and in the Museo del Prado (inv. no. P000649), Madrid. These works, like the present painting, are distinguished for their richly loaded, swift brush work. These qualities are especially evident in the robes and hair of the figures, and in the white drape with which the saint supports the Child, and the blue mantle that contrasts with Saint Anthony’s simple brown cassock and the ochre background. This palette is seemingly indebted to the Spanish works of Anthony Van Dyck (1599–1641) and perhaps even more influenced by the vibrant brushwork of Titian, revealing Carreño’s profound knowledge of Venetian use of colour.

Juan Carreño de Miranda is an exponent of late seventeenth century Spanish painting; he was appointed as the King’s painter from 1669 to 1671 and he is above all known for his portraits of the court of Charles II. The majority of his paintings were devotional subjects and such works were commissioned by the church and convents, as well as private patrons from Madrid, contributing to his fame as a painter. In addition to continuing the tradition of portraiture established at the Spanish court by Velázquez, he worked in collaboration with Francesco Rizi (1608/14–1685) producing large altarpieces, working in the Real Alcázar in Madrid, as well as executing works still conserved in the cathedral in Toledo.