Juan de Valdés Leal

D. José de Madrazo, Madrid, 1856;
M. de Negrón,
Art Market, Spain, where acquired by Galerie Heim, by 1950;
With Galerie Heim, Paris, until at least 1993.

Paris, Galerie Heim, Tableaux de maîtres anciens : catalogue vendu au profit de la Caisse de secours du Syndicat de la presse artistique française, 1956, no. 27;
Durham, England, Barnard Castle, Bowes Museum, Four Centuries of Spanish Art, June 17-September 17, 1967, no.78;
Mexico City, Centro Cultural/Arte Contemporáneo, A.C., Juan de Valdés Leal y El Arte Sevillano del Barroco, August 5-December 5, 1993, no. 76.

José de Madrazo Collection Catalogue, 1866, p. 104;
Tableaux de maîtres anciens: Tableaux de maîtres anciens : catalogue vendu au profit de la Caisse de secours du Syndicat de la presse artistique française, exhibition catalogue, Paris 1956, cat. no. 27, reproduced;
J. Gudiol, "Un Valdés Leal inédito," in Revista de Arte, 1957, p. 269, no. 16;
J.A. Gaya Nuño, La Pintura Española Fuera de Espña, Madrid 1958, p.315, cat. no. 2785;
E. Trapier, Valdés Leal: Spanish Baroque Painter, New York 1960, p.59, reproduced, fig. 131;
T. Mullaly, "A Major Early and Other Works", in Connosieur, vol.CLXV, 1966, p.167;
Barnard Castle, Bowes Museum, Four Centuries of Spanish Art, exhibition catalogue, Durham 1967, cat. no. 78, reproduced;
E.Young, "The Spanish Paintings at the Bowes Museum", in Apollo, vol. LXXXV, 1967, p.58;
D.T. Kinkead, Valdés Leal, New York 1978, pp.244, 432;
E. Valdivieso, Historia de la Pintura Sevillana, Seville 1986, p.274;
Centro Cultural/Arte Contemporáneo, A.C., Juan de Valdés Leal y El Arte Sevillano del Barroco, exhibition catalogue, Meixco City 1993, p. 199, cat. no. 76. reproduced in color, p. 199.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting has been recently restored and should be hung in its current condition. The canvas has been lined using glue as an adhesive. The paint layer is clean and varnished. Originally, the artist arranged for his canvas to be joined vertically through the left side of the column on the left of the picture. This join is faintly visible but not disturbingly so and the paint layer is in healthy condition. The retouching has been thoughtfully and accurately applied and is visible under ultraviolet light in the darker background directly beneath the putti in the upper center and above the shoulder of the central female figure. Retouches are also visible in similar darker colors in the upper column, in the upper left in fairly numerous applications, in the gown of the older woman in the lower right quadrant and in the red dress of the central female figure. The dark gown of the old man with the turban has also received some retouches. It seems that this particular dark color, be it in the background or in the figures, has not survived as well as the rest of the picture which is unretouched and in very healthy condition, even though some of the vigor of the palette is somewhat diminished in some areas. The picture is in good condition and should be hung as is.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Valdés Leal, the last of the great artists of the School of Seville, achieved renown as not only a painter, but also as a draughtsman, sculptor, etcher and architect. In addition to these outstanding achievements, he also wrote on art, though none of his writings is extant. With the exception of a few rare portraits, his paintings are entirely religious and highly expressive in both their technique and compositional approach,¹ and as is the case in the present canvas, the dynamism within Valdés Leal's style is directly influenced by his own religious passion.

This ability to infuse his own personal spiritual beliefs into his painting is upheld most successfully in the present Visitation scene through the delicate embrace of Mary and Elizabeth in the immediate foreground. The Dove, perfectly aligned with the interlocking hands of Mary and Elizabeth, forms a link between the human emotion of the two women, and the divine presence of God. Clad in garments with heavy, mannered folds, light falls most strongly upon the faces of the two women, and reveals their fleshy and aged faces. There is an apparent lack of restraint here, as the artist draws directly with his brush, creating an overall painterly and free quality which complements the outward emotion of the figures themselves. This free quality is reminiscent of the Flemish masters Rubens and Van Dyck, who themselves had a profound influence on Valdés Leal's generation.²  A group of cherubs hovers above the women, although the artist has kept the number to a minimum as to allow the eye to focus on the main figures below. Beyond this central scene, a heavily robed Saint Joseph enters from the left hand side of the canvas and moves hurriedly up a set of stairs to greet Zacharias. Leaning on a cane with one hand and pointing expressively to the main foreground scene with the other, this subtle hand gesture draws together the two seemingly separate figural groups. As Trapier comments, St. Joseph is "an impressive, well modeled figure done in tones of rich brown and grey."³

Valdés Leal executed this Visitation in 1673, the same year in which he was commissioned to paint a series of works depicting the Life of St. Ambrose for the oratory in the Archiepiscopal Palace in Seville. It is during that year that he also accepted a commision to gild and paint his well-known Vanities for the high altar retable of the church of the Hospital de la Caridad.

1. D.Kinkead, "Juan de Valdés Leal", in The Dictionary of Art, vol.XXXI, New York 1996, p. 808.
2.  An early contemporary of Valdés Leal, Juan de Moya, travelled with Van Dyck and the army of Charles I throughout the Low Countries and England, absorbing Van Dyck's style and creating many copies after the Flemish artist before returning to Spain and disseminating his style throughout Spain, and Seville in particular.
3.   E. Trapier, Valdés Leal: Spanish Baroque Painter, New York 1960, p.59.