JUAN CORREA VIVAR (Mascaraque, Toledo, ca. 1510- Toledo, 1566)San Nicolás de Tolentino

Oil on pine board. 64 x 63,5 cm. On the back with labels, one inscribed: "Capilla del Obispo". Saint Nicholas of Tolentino was a famous member of the Augustinian order. He is represented in frontal position, young and beardless, in accordance with the iconography of the time. He wears a very visible tonsure that gives his crown a grayish appearance. He appears in a meditative and serene attitude, recollected in the tranquility of his studio, seated on a kind of bench without backrest. Behind him is a cloth of honor made of gold, dignifying his presence. The saint's nimbus is outlined in black and is outlined against the golden background of the cloth. Nicholas is shown writing with a pen on a book resting on his knees, while on the wooden shelf to the right are two more books. His face is treated in detail, especially the dark tone of the incipient beard and the self-absorbed gaze that he directs towards the lower part. He wears the dark habit of the Augustinian order, decorated with gold applied to the cuffs and the edge of the hood. The habit is speckled with small square or rhomboidal shapes symbolizing stars, alluding to a legend according to which a star guided him at night to the monastery, so he is known as "the saint of the star". The cell in which the saint appears has a curious quarter-sphere shape with two openings to the outside. The opening on the left is very narrow and barely allows a glimpse of the landscape, although the blue sky can be seen. The one on the right is wider and is closed by a leaded glass window that lets in plenty of light. On the ledge of this opening there is a mitre, an attribute related to the abbot's staff that appears behind the saint. Both elements are made of gold metal sheet, although the mitre has some parts painted and decorated with two spherical elements that imitate rhinestones. The painter shows his technical skill by placing the figure in a space of complex perspective. He has placed the bench in a slightly oblique position, while the saint sits on it in a completely frontal position. The painter uses the windows to give depth to the room, generating a sense of additional space. These openings allow the access of light, which the master resolves in a correct and detailed way. Projected shadows are observed, such as those of the books on the cuts of the folios. Saint Nicholas of Tolentino is shown in the intimacy of his cell, surrounded by books, remembered for his eremitism and penitence. There are few representations of the saint in his studio, and he rarely appears with the mitre and the crosier, being more common to see him with other attributes such as the partridge on a plate, the lilies, the crucifix or the star on his chest, as in a 1515-1520 panel attributed to Miguel Esteve in the Museum of Fine Arts of Valencia. The authorship of the panel is attributed to Juan Correa de Vivar, a painter active in Toledo around 1510-1566. The work shows a style close to his early works of the thirties and forties, such as the altarpiece of Mora (Toledo), that of the Purification of the convent of the Poor Clares of Griñon (Madrid), or that of Guisando (Avila). The shading of the saint's face is characteristic of Correa's early works, of a markedly Leonardesque character. This can also be seen in a Saint Bernard and in the Death of Saint Bernard, both in the Prado Museum. The influence of John of Burgundy is evident, since the position and face of St. Nicholas of Tolentino faithfully reproduce those of St. Augustine in one of the panels in the Bowes Museum (England). This square panel format is found in the Altarpiece of the Purification of the convent of Griñon, which presided over the nuns' choir. It is possible that this panel was part of a similar altarpiece, in a reduced format, destined for a cloister chapel or a seasonal altarpiece. This type of compartment is common in medium-sized altarpieces, as in the bench of the main altarpiece of the Chapels of the Caves in the cathedral of Ávila, attributed to Lorenzo de Ávila, or in the main altarpiece of the Church of San Agustín del Pozo (Zamora), related to Martín de Carvajal or Lorenzo de Ávila. There is also a great similarity with the altarpiece of Botija (Cáceres), dated around 1560 and related to an anonymous master from Toledo. The origin of the panel is the Bishop's Chapel in the Church of San Andrés in Madrid, according to a label attached to the back during the Spanish Civil War. Correa worked on several occasions for churches around Madrid, as evidenced by commissions for towns such as Griñon, Meco and San Martín de Valdeiglesias. The authorship has been confirmed by Alberto Velasco González, PhD in Art History, Universitat de LLeida, who has carried out the study.