6 - Francisco COLLANTES (Madrid, c. 1599–1656).

Francisco COLLANTES (Madrid, c. 1599–1656). The Good Shepherd. Original canvas. 144 × 108 cm. Bears a number on the reverse of the canvas, likely an inventory number, written in black ink: “1116.” (Previous restorations; damage in the lower right corner) Spanish frame from the 1820s. Provenance: - Sale of the collection of Mr. André Didier, Relanges, Mes Toutain and Béra, 1971. Formerly attributed to Fray Juan Rizzi. A student of Vicente Carducho, according to historian Antonio Palomino, Francisco Collantes was a contemporary of Velázquez and worked in Madrid between 1630 and 1650 during the reign of Philip IV. He is recognized as the greatest landscape painter of the Golden Age, a genre rarely practiced in Spain. He received commissions for the Buen Retiro Palace, and one of his paintings belonged to Charles I of England and later to Louis XIV (Louvre Museum). Drawing inspiration from the Flemish and Italian works of the late 16th and early 17th centuries that he saw at court, his vast, shadowy landscapes are enlivened by biblical figures. He also produced several paintings featuring large figures (Saint Onuphrius, Madrid, Prado; Saint Jerome, Copenhagen, National Museum) in which the influence of Ribera and Neapolitan naturalism is evident. Our previously unseen painting is a good example of this. The landscape vista in the background on the right—a valley beneath a cloud-laden sky—is characteristic of his approach. His style is also evident in the naturalistic rendering of the sheep, which draws on the Bassanos, one of the painter’s models. Christ’s face, tilted downward, is imbued with a melancholic gentleness. He holds a shepherd’s crook to guide his flock. The originality of the composition lies above all in this deep emerald-green drapery, rather than the red or blue typically found in traditional iconography. The even, frontal lighting reveals the full chromatic richness of the tunic, which stands out sharply against the landscape. Unlike the depictions of the Good Shepherd as a child that predominate in 17th-century Spanish art (Murillo), the iconography of this work follows an older tradition consistent with the Old Testament source in Ezekiel (34:11–16), which depicts Christ as an adult shepherd. This approach, which is rarer and closer to the biblical text, finds a natural echo in the painter’s religious culture. He had already illustrated another theme related to the Book of Ezekiel—depicting the prophet’s vision—in his masterpiece at the Prado Museum.