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FRANCISCO IGNACIO RUIZ DE LA IGLESIA (1649 – 1704). "Apparition of the Virgin and Child to St. Philip Neri", ca. 1690-1703. Oil on board.

FRANCISCO IGNACIO RUIZ DE LA IGLESIA (1649 – 1704). "Apparition of the Virgin and Child to St. Philip Neri", ca. 1690-1703. Oil on board. 49 x 39.5 cm; 58.5 x 48 cm (frame). This work has been attributed to Ignacio Ruiz de la Iglesia by Ismael Gutiérrez Pastor of the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid ("Archivo español de arte", LXXXVI, 342, April-June 2013, pp. 143-162). Gutiérrez Pastor indicates that this work integrates a portrait of St. Philip Neri and an allusion to the Madonna della Vallicella, the Roman church that is the seat of the Congregation of the Oratory of Feilippo Neri. He continues by pointing out that it does not refer to any specific episode of the saint's life, but rather seeks to exalt both St. Philip's devotion to the Virgin and Mary's protection of a foundation placed under his patronage, and that precisely this made the work the most popular devotional iconography of St. Philip Neri during his process of beatification (1615), a success that increased even after the canonization (1622). Regarding the iconography, the scholar points out that he follows Italian models, with the saint wearing the black priest's cassock instead of the chasuble, since it is not a sacramental or miraculous scene, but an everyday one. Likewise, he makes us see that the face and white beard of the saint follow the portraits that were made of him during his lifetime, at the end of the 16th century. The panel shows us St. Philip on an open terrace, kneeling and with his arms open, contemplating the Virgin appearing, with the Child in her lap, in the upper left area of the painting, in a markedly diagonal composition, typical of the full baroque. The scene is completed by two child angels carrying a crown of roses and a flowery branch of lilies, symbolizing Mary's purity. Next to the saint, on the floor, we see the hood that is the emblem of the Oratory. As the only iconographic element of the saint, we can see the flame on his chest, symbol of the prodigy of the expansion of the heart by the work of the Holy Spirit, which occurred while St. Philip was praying in the catacomb of St. Sebastian in Rome on the day of Pentecost 1544. Gutiérrez Pastor bases his attribution to Ignacio Ruiz de la Iglesia on a profound formal study, in which he first points out that the composition, in a diagonal staggered pattern, is a typical scheme of the Madrid Baroque. He also indicates other elements typical of this school, such as the rounded shapes of the angels and their blond hair. Finally, he elaborates a comparative study, where he points out the similarities between this table and others of similar composition traditionally related to Claudio Coello and recently attributed to Ruiz de la Iglesia: the drawing of the "Aparición de la Virgen del Rosario a santo Domingo de Guzmán" (London, British Museum), and the canvas of the "Aparición de la Virgen del Carmen a un caballero de Santiago" (Seville, private collection). In addition to these similarities, the scholar indicates formal details common to other works by the same author such as the "Immaculate Conception" of 1682 (Boston, Museum of Fine Arts) or the "Martyrdom of Saint Andrew" by Casarrubios del Monte (1696). On the other hand, he also highlights in his text the important devotion that Ruiz de la Iglesia and his wife, Ana Vázquez de Parga, professed to Saint Philip Neri. Francisco Ignacio Ruiz de la Iglesia was a painter and engraver, member of the Madrid Baroque school, appointed in 1701 as Philip V's chamber painter. He began his training in the workshop of Francisco Camilo, where he remained between 1662 and 1666, and later completed it with Juan Carreño de Miranda, a painter with whom he collaborated in the scenes of the chapel of San Isidro in the church of San Andrés in Madrid. He also worked with José Jiménez Donoso and Claudio Coello, from whom he learned the formal features of decorative painting and also the techniques of tempera and fresco. Ruiz de la Iglesia produced mainly religious works, many of them frescoes in churches in Madrid