Of the works of Españoletto, the Madrid gallery contains several chef d’œuvres. This painter was born near Valencia, in the year 1589; he was first the pupil of Ribalta, and afterwards, at Rome, of Caravaggio. The style of Españoletto is, perhaps, more than any other painter, opposed to that of Murillo. Simplicity, and the graces of nature, are no where to be found in his works, which are forcible,—often verging upon the terrible; and whose object seems to be, rather to seize the imagination than to touch the heart. But the painting of Españoletto, after he had seen the productions of Correggio, lost much of that exaggerated manner which the lessons of Caravaggio had taught him; and in his later styles, he has produced pictures which unite force with many other excellences. Among the best of this master’s works in the Madrid gallery are, St. Peter the Apostle weeping for his sins; in which the design, the composition, and the colouring, are all excellent;—Jacob’s Ladder, in which the author shews that he has profited by a study of the works of Correggio;—“The head of a Priest of Bacchus,” full of character and vigour;—and “Saint Sebastian,” in the last and best manner of the painter. Besides these pictures, there are many in the author’s first exaggerated style; such as “Prometheus bound,” “a Magdalen in the Desert,” and “Christ in the Bosom of the Eternal;” which, if not pleasing, are at least interesting, as contrasts with the improved style of Españoletto’s later compositions.
There are still other pictures in the gallery which must not be passed over; but I shall not classify them. “Children Playing at Dice,” by Villavicencio, the disciple of Murillo, and in whose arms he died;—a picture full of nature and naïveté, and charmingly coloured.
“The Visitation of Saint Elizabeth,” by Juanes. Juanes is, undoubtedly, one of the greatest of the Spanish painters after Murillo and Velasquez; and this, as well as others of his compositions, is entitled to rank immediately after the works of these two masters.
“Saint John the Evangelist writing the Revelations in the Isle of Patmos,” by Alonzo Cano.
A “St. Francis in ecstasy,” by Cerezo, who was an excellent painter; and who, in design and colouring, sometimes approached Van Dyk.
“The Virgin and the Infant Jesus.” By Morales, sometimes called “The divine.”
An incomparable “Head of Christ, crowned with Thorns,” by Juanes.
“A Dead Christ,” by Alonzo Cano.
“A St. Francis,” by Ribalta.
“The Entombment of St. Etienne,” by Juanes, a picture which partakes largely of the graces that distinguish the school of Raphael and his followers.