LUIS TRISTAN Toledo (1585) / (1624) "Saint Onuphrius"

Oil on canvas. Bibliography: - Redondo Cuesta, J., “The Golden Years of Tristan”, Ars Magazine: art and collecting magazine, no. 43, 2019, early 110-118. Luis Tristan was one of the most important figures in Toledo painting at the beginning of the 17th century. His training was notably influenced by El Greco's painting, as it is known that he worked in his workshop as an apprentice; but also by an enriching stay in Italy where he experienced Caravaggist naturalism firsthand. His work will be decanted between both styles, as can be seen in this magnificent hermit Saint Onofre which, with its strong naturalistic imprint, emerges from the darkness through a magnificent study of light and shadow. This painting has recently been attributed to the painter by Jose Redondo Cuesta in an extensive article published in Ars Magazine. With his characteristic tanned skin tone and his usual muscular physiognomy, the author highlights in this work the way in which Tristan “masterfully captures the degradation that human anatomy suffers when subjected to old age and the rigors of penitence.” Although it is true that the painter interprets the physical features of the holy hermit in an almost photographic way, his figure is imbued with a serene gravity and a deep spirituality, showing the saint absorbed in his meditation, with a lost gaze and reflecting with a skull in his hand and the open book that may be alluding to the Rule of Saint Anthony the Abbot. Characterized as an old man with a beard and white hair, he hides his complete nakedness with desert herbs that, according to tradition, he tied to his waist. Measurements: 78 x 64.5 cm.