“Mary with the Baby”, Luis de Morales – description of the painting

Description of the picture:

Maria with the baby – Luis de Morales. Canvas, oil.

   Luis de Morales is the creator of many religious paintings. His works are filled with inner spiritual strength, apprehension and special aesthetics inherent in the bright Spanish mannerism. As an artist, Morales was not interested in actions, but in individual manners and characters. Revealing his beloved topic – the topic of sacrifice, Christian humility and humility, Luis de Morales sought very accurately to express the depth and significance of what is happening through the prism of the sad emotions possessing the heroes of his paintings.

   A vivid example is the painting “Madonna and Child”. On a small canvas made about one thousand 500 years old, the viewer sees the young Mary, holding the baby Jesus in her arms. Mom and child look at each other with meekness and endless love. In the gaze and caresses squandered by the baby, not only tenderness is read, but also a deeply hidden anxious foreboding of the catastrophic fate of the offspring.

   The artist’s brush gave Maria’s appearance the corresponding signs of impeccable female beauty, glorified by Italian masters of the 16th century: subtle features of an elongated luxurious face, lowered gaze of huge, grayish eyes, translucent, as if porcelain skin and blond hair. Touching fragility and purity is emphasized by a deliberate contrast. Black greedy background and dense languid vestments, painted in thick, rich colors, set off the light glow emanating from the faces of Our Lady and the baby.

   Despite the seemingly monotonous paintings of Luis de Morales, any of them zany opens up the images of Mary and baby Jesus. In an attempt to convey the tragedy and inevitability of what is to come through the images of the heroes of his own paintings, the painter combines the exaggerated expression of Norman masters and the impeccability of the Italian school, giving birth to his own unique style."