Flemish school; early 17th century.
"Saint Hermenegild".
Oil on canvas.
Measurements: 104 x 125 cm.
Saint Hermenegild was the son of the Visigoth king Leovigild. In 579 he confronted his father and married Ingund, the daughter of the Frankish king Sigebert I of Austrasia, who was a Christian. Later he started a rebellion, in which he tried to replace Arianism with Christianity. During the conflict Hermenegild fled to Seville and when it fell to a siege in 584, he made his way to Cordoba. After Leovigild paid 30,000 gold pieces, the Byzantines withdrew and took Ingund, his wife and son with them. Hermenegild sought refuge in a church and his father sent Recaredo, Hermenegild's brother, to offer peace. In this scene the artist depicts the saint kneeling, praying and turning his face towards the crucifix on the tree on the left-hand side of the composition. However, despite the pious subject matter of the scene, we are struck by the multitude of animals that share the composition with Saint Hermenegild: a white horse, from which he seems to have immediately dismounted as he is saddled, three dogs in the lower part of the foreground and a deer standing on a promontory, looking directly at the saint. This feature creates a confusing situation in the conception of the work, as it seems that Saint Hermenegild is also looking at the animal, to some extent losing sight of the presence of the deer.
The painting belongs to the Flemish school, which can be deduced from certain characteristics associated with that school. In this painting, there is a realistic reaction to the fantasy of the international Gothic, it is a painting very influenced by the art of sculpture, oil painting is usually generalised, it is a painting with a great symbolic sense which allows us two readings, the symbolic and the realistic. There is an importance for detail, with a meticulous description of objects, nothing escapes the painter's eye, the presence of many details is evident, a painting in which real beings appear without idealistic intention. The portrait occupies an increasingly prominent place, there is a greater study of light, as well as a veracity of the sense of volume, depth is sought in space, achieving perspective in an intuitive manner.