Our Lady of the Parched Ones of Valencia

Author: Spanish painter or Messina area? (sec. XVII)

Date: 7th decade sec. XVII

Material: Oil on canvas

Size: cm 150×100

Place: Milazzo, church of SS. Maria del Rosario

Father Perdichizzi, in his important manuscript, recalls that the painting by Nuestra Senora De Los Emparados de Valencia was donated to the Capuchin friars “from a few years ago […] by the Spanish nation” and was placed by them in the altar of their church previously dedicated to the Immaculate and then dedicated to the new and venerated effigy of Valencia. Our Madonna of the Abandoned probably dates back to the seventh decade of the seventeenth century, also because of its architectural setting linked to the iconographic aspect that this image assumes in Spain right within the second half of the seventeenth century. The recent restoration has restored full legibility to the painting that presents the typical characters of Spanish devotional painting and appears of considerable agiographic and historical documentary interest.

The pictorial representations or the numerous woodcuts of the Virgin de los Desamparados depend on an ancient sculpture very revered in Valencia that before the establishment of the official chapel, in 1667, was custody of the Confraternity called Nostra Dona Sacta Maria dels Ignoscens. The title was linked to the foundation of the first hospital for fools called Hospital des Ignoscentes, Folles and Orats, created in the fifteenth century by Benedict XIII, and later placed under the protection of the Virgin.

The original characteristic of this iconography appeared connected precisely to the Holy Innocents, infantile figures applied, half-height, on the robe of Mary and always represented naked and in acts of worship. The religious corporation since its foundation had among its duties to accompany the coffins of the executed, on the chest, during the merciful ceremony, was a relief sculpture of the Virgin. It is due to the members of the congregation the palmar reproduction of the statue made on special paintings called canvases, by the clavarios of the Brotherhood who followed the coffins of the condemned, and again because of the improvised altar in the chapel set up precisely in the house of the bearers. The iconographic characters of the simulacrum were fixed in June 1493 with royal privilege of King Ferdinand of Aragon who, on this occasion, decided to adopt the title of Nostra Dona Desamparatos. The sculpture was made of paper-based material for easy handling and with a flat back so that it could be easily placed on the coffin. The setting included a pillow under the head to allow the visibility of both the mother’s face and that of the child, an aspect that in the transposition on the canvas often caused forced or deformations, At the same time as the unnatural position of the arm, since the figure was tilted into a standing position. This sculpture or icon – coffin when it was positioned vertically was rather unaesthetic therefore covered with a cloak, attribute that does not fall into the iconography of the Madonna of Mercy or Our Lady of Mercy, but it is a “accessory element and no intrinsic to our being éstee symbol de protection, como en las mater omnium”.

The canvas given to the Capuchin friars has all the typical features of Spanish paintings that between XVI and XVII century represent the image of this simulacrum. Therefore the work reproduces a lying figure in a vertical position, the simulation does not however involve in our painting, as it happens in Spanish works, the singular posture of the head of the Virgin often recessed and brought forward, the right arm assumes, Similarly to the Valencian depictions, a lying position and lies inert along the body, is also proposed the addition of the coat, functional accessory that does not fall under the protection symbols, but is used, as already explained, to mask imperfections due to the original sculptural character. The main attributes of this Marian image are present, the grilled rod, held in the right hand and made with rigorous attention, the crown, the figurines of the Holy Innocents caught in an attitude of prayer, the large cross held by the Child that brings his face closer to his mother’s (all symbols relevant to the ancient Brotherhood); finally, a remarkable emphasis is given to the connecting volutes painted in red allusive to the front of the case. The dress is enriched by jewels, long coral necklaces, ex-voto, and especially the insignia of the Order of Malta. The type of the crown with a central jewel in the form of a coat of arms, and also the presence of the halo and lanceolate rays are consistent with Spanish representations.
In the canvas are also present in the background the purging souls, frequent mention in the depictions of Mary and that in our case well agrees with the original hagiographic theme related to the merciful assistance of derelites and condemned to death. The elaborate crown, alternating golden and red rays, is particularly interesting. The royal headdress clearly alludes to the coffins of Aragon ancient heraldic emblem of the crown adopted by the city of Valencia formed by red bands on a golden background.

Stylistically, the work of Milazzo presents all the iconic features of the “clavario” type paintings, however, within the restricted and iron iconographic codification of this image, certainly made on the basis of an engraving, we find a formal language that denotes, in the softened and less severe physiognomy of the face of the Virgin and in the modeled realized through the luminous definition of the whites and the bright pink of the cheeks and lips, a series of formal clues that refer to the devotional works dear to the circle of Francisco Zurbaràn and especially to the scope of images, naive and attractive, created by the painter Josefa se Ayala and Cabrera and his group of collaborators. The artist, famous for her still life, excellent performer of precious ornaments and pretty figurines of the Savior, represented as small dressed statues, is characterized and is imposed by the spontaneity and the copious production of devotional subjects and countless works engraved in bulino intended mainly for monastic communities. It is not excluded that the work may have been performed, however, by a local artist who had a precise Spanish model as well as a good knowledge of the Iberian culture, a painter ductile and skilled for graceful representations and precious decorative details. An author capable, as well as unsuspecting, able to translate the salient aspects of the venerated icon of the Desamparados, but that does not accept, however, the hagiographic characterization with the inclination of the head of the Virgin, typical “of the icon-coffin” The unintelligible appearance if you do not know the original iconography.
 
 
Buda V., Lanuzza S. (a cura di), Tesori di Milazzo. Arte sacra tra Seicento e Settecento., Milazzo 2015