Study for "The Assumption of the Virgin" for San Augustín, Seville
Juan de Valdés Leal (Spanish, 1622–1690)
c. 1670–72
- Medium
- oil on wood
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- Framed: 52.3 x 39 cm (20 9/16 x 15 3/8 in.); Unframed: 40.3 x 26.6 cm (15 7/8 x 10 1/2 in.)
- Culture
- Spain
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
This painting is a sketch for a large altarpiece. The rough, flickering surface, the unusually sharp contrast of hot and cool hues, and the compression of space all characterize the artist’s intense spirituality and unique technique. While often held apart from the sweetness and grace of Murillo (also represented in the collection), his contemporary in Seville, the two artists worked closely together on commissions and often presented their work side by side, speaking to the stylistic diversity and religious complexity preferred by patrons in Seville during the late 1600s.
