Page 60 - The mystery of faith

generation, such as Jusepe di Ribera, Juan van der Hamen, Francisco Zurbarán, Diego Velázquez and
Alonso Cano.27 It was within his discussion of these and other artists that Peréz Sánchez proposed the
term ‘tenebrist naturalism’ to more specifically differentiate the work of these Spanish painters from the
traditional catch-all term ‘Caravaggism’. He therefore helped to clarify a distinction between the
Spanish and Italian (particularly Neapolitan) artistic motivations towards naturalism. It is partly by
recognizing how the brothers used landscape in their works, then analysing the various motifs and
styles they employed and comparing their work to other contemporary examples that we can gain a
clearer understanding of their painterly style and technique. As we will see in the following
examinations of the sculptures exhibited here, the landscapes in other versions of Saint Francis of Assisi
and the Penitent Saint Jerome share marked similarities with the present works, and, in light of this new
evidence, the traditional attribution of these works to Alonso Cano should now be reassessed in favour
of the ‘Hermanos’ García.

JOSE LUIS ROMERO TORRES

1 E. OROZCO DÍAZ, ‘Nota adicional al trabajo sobre los did not know any works by the brothers, nor their dates of
Hermanos Garcías’, in Boletín de la Universidad de Granada, birth or death. Instead, he merely placed them in the time of
1935, pp. 193–194. Philip IV, noting the year 1665, the year in which the king
died, but one completely unrelated to the Garcías.
2 E. OROZCO DÍAZ, ‘La escultura en barro, en Granada’, in
Cuadernos de Arte, vols IV–VI (1939–1941), facs. 7–12, pp. 9 J. P. CRUZ CABRERA, ‘Jerónimo Francisco y Miguel
93–108. The quotation is found on p. 98. Jerónimo García. San Juan Bautista señalando al cordero’, in
Antigüedad y Excelencias, exhibition catalogue, Consejería
3 J. HERNÁNDEZ DÍAZ, Martínez Montañés (1568–1649) y la de Cultura de la Junta de Andalucía, Seville 2007, p. 202.
escultura andaluza de su tiempo, exhibition catalogue,
Casón del Buen Retiro, Madrid 1969, p. 24. 10 A. PALOMINO, Vidas de los Pintores y Estatuarios eminentes
Españoles, Alianza Editoriale, Madrid 1986, p. 200.
4 The church lost all its documentation when it was
destroyed during the Civil War in the 1930s, and this made 11 E. OROZCO DÍAZ, ‘Los Hermanos García. Escultores del
it impossible to ascertain either precise dates or references to Ecce Homo’, in Boletín de la Universidad de Granada, no.
these artists or even their date of death. 30, 1934, pp. 60–62.

5 Bermúdez de Pedraza noted that the Garcías were not only 12 OROZCO DÍAZ, ‘La escultura en barro’ cit., figs. 7–12, pp.
active at the end of the sixteenth century, but also as being 93–108, cited on p. 99.
prestigious, that they were the sons of Pedro García, that
they were christened Jerónimo Francisco García and Miguel 13 A conservation team led by Dionisio Oleoso restored this
Jerónimo García, that they were junior canons of the work on behalf of the Consejería de Cultura de la Junta de
Church of El Salvador in Granada and that they worked in Andalucía in preparation for the Teatro de Grandezas, a
tandem. See F. BERMÚDEZ DE PEDRAZA, Antiguedad y cultural project forming part of Andalucía Barroca in 2007.
excelencias de Granada, Madrid 1608.
14 M. GÓMEZ-MORENO MARTÍNEZ, ‘Alonso Cano, escultor’,
6 Soto de Rojas was a follower of Golden Age poet Luis de in Archivo Español de Arte y Arqueología, no. 6, 1926, p.
Góngora (1561–1627). The full title of this, his most 226.
renowned work, is Paraíso cerrado para muchos, jardines
abiertos para pocos con los fragmentos de Adonis (1652). 15 OROZCO DÍAZ, ‘Nota adicional’ cit., pp. 193–194.

7 A. PALOMINO DE CASTRO Y VELASCO, El Parnaso Español 16 CRUZ CABRERA, ‘Jerónimo Francisco y Miguel Jerónimo
Pintoresco Laureado, Madrid 1724 (re-ed. 1947), p. 939. García’ cit., p. 202.

8 Although Juan de Alfaro lived and worked in Granada and 17 Museo de Arte Ponce, Puerto Rico.
knew artists active in the city, such as the Mora family, he
18 This work is also housed in what appears to be an
original, inlaid, deep frame or vitrine behind glass similar to
that used for the Saint John exhibited here.

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