Saint Marina

Zurbarán’s saints are an excellent example of the religious strategies of the Baroque. With the intention of bringing the models of faith and virtuous life they represented closer to the faithful, the artist fuses the divine and the earthly in these images.

He does so through the fashionable clothing of his time and individualized faces, whose features and gestures are taken from real models.

On some occasions, it was noble ladies who had themselves portrayed "in the divine manner," and in others, as seen here, it was anonymous women with more or less stereotyped features and no idealization, through whom he sought to humanize divinity, following the example of Caravaggio.

With his way of representing saints, Zurbarán created a successful type of composition with many followers in Spain and the Americas, where the artist himself sent numerous works from his workshop in Seville.

Standing figures, shown in profile against a neutral background, dressed in the fashion of the period, with few identifying attributes and realistic faces, configure the prototype popularized by Zurbarán and his collaborators.

Due to its quality, this Saint Marina is a work entirely by the master’s hand, as well as the first of the images of the same iconography known today.

Through a direct, almost defiant gaze, communication with the viewer is sought to draw attention to the example of Christian conduct and devotion that the saint embodies. This is yet another trait used to accentuate the closeness the painter pursues throughout the entire figure.

This gesture also achieves an effect of immediacy, accompanied by the saint's own posture, as she seems to have paused for a moment in her walk to look the observer in the eye.

The neutral background, without any spatial, architectural, or decorative references, and the intense contrast of light and shadow give the figure a sculptural and monumental appearance, enhancing its volume and three-dimensional aspect.

This lighting accentuates the realism of each painted element, seeking to connect the space of the painting with that of the viewer by making the saint an almost tangible figure who shares the earthly and mundane space of the devout observer.

Zurbarán's painting captivates with its extraordinary technique, his masterful ability to describe the qualities and textures of materials, his preciousness, meticulousness, sophistication, and his intense naturalism.

The fabrics of the clothes, whether delicate or coarse, the metal of the jewelry, the wood of the staff, or the leather and paper of the book that Saint Marina holds in her hand are outstanding examples of the artist's attention to detail.

Zurbarán’s saints wear clothing fashionable in the mid-17th century, contemporary to the viewers of that time for whom these images were intended, whether they be the garments of elegant noblewomen or the simpler, humbler shepherdess costumes, such as that of Saint Marina.

It consists of a white cotton shirt with ruffled collars and cuffs, a dark bodice, a red loom-woven underskirt or manteo, and a tucked-up green basquiña over it. The burlap saddlebags, the hat, and the staff are pastoral attributes. The attire is another resource used to give the saint a folk and mundane appearance.

The verisimilitude with which Zurbarán represents fabrics proves that they were painted from real-life references. He himself had direct contact with textiles since his childhood.

His father had run a haberdashery shop in Fuente de Cantos (Badajoz), the artist's birthplace, where, among other products, he sold cloths and linens.

The effect achieved by the painter, with meticulous and precise brushwork and a mastery of color and chiaroscuro, is almost tactile and possesses an astonishing truthfulness.

It is possible that the work was originally larger, perhaps full-length. This is suggested by the staff or the saddlebags, which are cut off at the bottom. Likewise, other known figures of Saint Marina, undoubtedly created based on the model of this work, are also complete figures.