ISIDORO TAPIA (Valencia, ca. 1712 - ca. 1771/77). ‘Virgin and Child. Oil on canvas. Size: 84 x 62 x 2 cm. The format of this piece indicates that it was probably originally a processional banner. This is largely due to the composition, which is based on a compartmentalised scheme, with lower cartouches depicting various saints and an upper area containing the representation of the Virgin and Child, which is crowned by various angels. The piece is notable for its great scenography, typical of Baroque aesthetic schemes. This theatricality is defined firstly by the division between an earthly space, dedicated to the saints, and an area reserved exclusively for the divine plane, where the monumental figure of the Virgin dominates the space. The figure, which has been conceived in a pyramidal form, seated on a cloud with cherubic heads and the crescent of the fourth crescent, common in his iconography as the Immaculate Conception, stands as the central axis of the scene, exercising a strict centrality that is only interrupted in the upper area by the representation of the Eucharist and the dove of the Holy Spirit. A Spanish Rococo painter, the Valencian Isidoro de Tapia trained with Evaristo Muñoz, according to Ceán Bermúdez. In Valencia he executed several works commissioned by the public, and in 1743 he moved to Madrid. He joined the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts, where he was appointed a meritorious academician in 1755. It is thought that he also spent some time working in Portugal. He taught drawing at the Academy until his death, and also worked for the Royal Stables of the Royal Palace. Although few signed works by his hand are known, Ismael Gutiérrez Pastor compiled a small catalogue of twenty-eight works that provide an insight into the personality of this painter, and also reconstructed his life from known and unpublished documents. Works by Isidoro de Tapia are currently held in the San Fernando Academy and other collections.