96 - ATTRIBUTED TO MARIANO SALVADOR MAELLA

ATTRIBUTED TO MARIANO SALVADOR MAELLA Valencia 1739 – Madrid 1819 Virgin in Prayer Oil on panel Dimensions 56.2 x 41.9 cm Provenance: - Private collection, Madrid. This splendid Virgin in Prayer, depicted as a half-length figure with her gaze raised upward while holding a prayer book in her hands, can be attributed to the great court painter Mariano Salvador Maella. The delicate modeling of the face, the luminosity of the flesh tones, and the treatment of the drapery—dominated by the intense blue of the mantle—reveal the characteristic refinement of this painter’s religious work; he was one of the leading figures in Spanish painting during the second half of the 18th century. Maella developed various Marian models that were reproduced and disseminated in numerous versions, both by his own circle and by his followers. This painting is of particular interest due to its quality and its closeness to the prototype of the composition, possibly corresponding to the lost original version from which other replicas and copies of lesser quality known on the market are derived. The existence of these versions allows us to place the work within the context of the widespread dissemination achieved by Maella’s devotional models. On the reverse, it bears a wax seal of an unidentified noble house, as well as two old labels displaying the inventory numbers 74 and 72.