Bidspirit auction | Luis Tristán (Toledo, c. 1585-1624),

Luis Tristán (Toledo, c. 1585-1624), Monumental Saint Jerome in Prayer, Spanish school of the 16th - 17th century - Oil on canvas, dimensions: 195 x 145 cm. (Toledo, 1580/1585-Toledo, 1624). Spanish painter. He is one of the most outstanding representatives of Toledo painting at the beginning of the 17th century, one of the most fertile pictorial periods in the Imperial City. The first news of Tristán links him with the most important painter of the place, since he appears as an apprentice of El Greco in 1603. In 1606 he was still in the city and it was from that date that he made his trip to Italy, reported by Jusepe Martínez, who tells us that Tristán made it with Ribera. He must have been in Rome during the pontificate of Paul V, finding himself back in Toledo in 1613. He would work there until his death, attending to commissions both in the city itself and in his province. It is worth highlighting his deep friendship with El Greco's son, Jorge Manuel Theotocópuli, with whom he collaborated on some works, such as the tomb erected in 1621 for the death of Philip III. His style, thanks to the heterogeneity of his training, appears very varied, almost contradictory at times. The strong influence of El Greco will always remain in his painting, especially in the elongation and instability of his figures; but his direct knowledge of the Caravaggist experience in Rome. Angulo Íñiguez, Diego, and Pérez Sánchez, Alfonso E., Historia de la pintura española. Escuela toledana de la primera mitad del siglo XVII, Madrid, Instituto Diego Velázquez, CSIC, 1972, pp. 111-199. Provenance: former collection of the Duke of Montpensier, San Telmo Palace, Seville