Spanish school: 17th century. "Saint". Oil on canvas. Relined. It presents faults and repainting. Measurements: 102,5 x 86,5 cm. Devotional painting, in which the artist has collected a male portrait. The figure is inscribed in an interior made up of dark tonalities, where there is no other element that distorts the viewer's view, with respect to the main figure, except for the big book that is placed in the right area of the composition. Furthermore, due to the dimensions and monumentality conferred by the artist, the figure occupies a large part of the pictorial surface. Despite being a male portrait without any other identifying attributes, it is possible to appreciate that this is a religious representation, firstly from the clothing, in which the cloak stands out, and secondly from the posture adopted by the sitter, next to the book. Spanish Baroque painting is one of the most authentic and personal examples of our art, because its conception and form of expression arose from the people and their deepest feelings. With the economy of the state in ruins, the nobility in decline and the clergy heavily taxed, it was the monasteries, parishes and confraternities of clerics and laymen who encouraged its development, with the works sometimes being financed by popular subscription. Painting was thus obliged to express the prevailing ideals in these environments, which were none other than religious ones, at a time when Counter-Reformation doctrine demanded a realistic language from art so that the faithful could understand and identify with what was depicted, and an expression endowed with an intense emotional content to increase the fervour and devotion of the people. Religious themes were therefore the preferred subject matter of Spanish sculpture during this period, which in the early decades of the century was based on a priority interest in capturing the natural world, gradually intensifying throughout the century in the depiction of expressive values.