Jeronimo de Bobadilla Sold at Auction Prices

JERÓNIMO DE BOBADILLA (Seville, 1640-Seville, 1709) . "Saint Joseph with the Child". Pen, brown ink and red wash. It presents light stains in the previous area and restorations. Measures. 18,5 x 11,2 cm; 57 x 44,5 cm (frame).

JERÓNIMO DE BOBADILLA (Seville, 1640-Seville, 1709) . "Saint Joseph with the Child". Pen, brown ink and red wash. It presents light stains in the previous area and restorations. Measures. 18,5 x 11,2 cm; 57 x 44,5 cm (frame). Until the Counter-Reformation, the most common thing was that the figure of St. Joseph remained in the background, since no theological importance was given to him. However, after Trent, his leading role as protector of Jesus during his childhood, as a guide during his youth, was recovered, and as such he is represented here. In contrast to the tenderness, defenselessness and candor of the infant figure, St. Joseph is presented as a monumental character, typically baroque, an impression that is reinforced by the pyramidal composition. Through this form of representation, the author visually enhances the decisive role as protector of the putative father of Jesus. The piece had an old attribution to the master Murillo, however, aesthetically it would be closer to the Sevillian painter, Jerónimo de Bobadilla. Despite the few biographical data about the artist, Palomino collects in his famous treatise the biography of this artist. He began his artistic training under the guidance of Zurbarán, beginning a period as an apprentice between 1645 and 1654. From this year he settled in Antequera, however, in 1660 he returned to Seville to attend the academy of La Lonja. It was then that he met Murillo, who had a great aesthetic influence on the development of the work of Jerónimo de Bobadilla. In 1675 he was appointed mayor alamín of the office, so he achieved a great reputation as an artist, which earned him a wide clientele both in the religious field, as well as at the private level. However, in the last decade of his life his profession was imbued with a certain decadence due to family reasons and his own physical deterioration, which prevented him from performing his duties as a painter.