Lot 246: - Juan Simón Gutierrez , Seville 1644 - 1718 the annunciation oil on canvas

oil on canvas

measurements note 244.2 by 158.7 cm.; 96 by 62 1/2 in.

F. Arana de Varflora, Compendio Historico Descriptivo de la muy Noble y muy Leal Ciudad de Sevilla. Metropoli de Andalucia, part 1, 1789, p. 53;
A. Ponz, Viage de España, en que se da noticia de las cosas mas apreciables, y dignas de saberse, que hay en ella, vol. IX, Seville 1786, Carta tercera, p. 105, no. 46;
J.M. Carriazo, "Correspondencia de Don Antonio Ponz con el Conde del Aguila", in Archivo Español de Arte y Arqueología, vol. V, 1929, p. 157;
D. Angulo Iñiguez, Murillo, Madrid 1981, vol. II, pp. 345-347;
D. Angulo Iñiguez, "Varias Obras de Estaban Márquez, Atribuidas a Murillo", in Revista Goya, no. 169-171, July-December, pp. 3-6;
E. Valdivieso, Pintura Barroca Sevillana, Seville 2003, p. 408.

Cloister of the Convent of the Discalced Trinitarians, Seville;
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 16 June 1810 (as Murillo);
Private collection, England.

Juan Simón Gutiérrez was a member of the Seville Academy from 1664-1672 and was probably taught by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, whose style he followed closely.

This Annuciation once formed part of a group of eight pictures, executed by Esteban Márquez, Juan Simón Gutiérrez and Mulato in collaboration, which depicted the life of the Virgin and which decorated the walls of the cloister of the Convent of the Discalced Trinitarians, Seville. The other works from the series of eight represent: a Betrothal (Museum of Art, Raleigh), a Dormition (private collection London), an Assumption, a Virgin with San Félix de Valois and San Juan de Mata, a Descent from the cross and a Virgin with saints.υ1

We are grateful to Porfessor Valdivieso for supporting the attribution to Gutiérrez on the basis of photographs.


1. See Valdivieso, under Literature, p. 408 and 409, the 'Betrothal' and 'Dormition' reproduced plates 389 and 390 respectively.