UNTIL SUNDAY 6/2
BB.AA MUSEUM. Saint Pius V, 9
The Museum of Fine Arts of Valencia brings its arsenal out of storage to shine a light on hidden gems —and why it's cheaper, we are not fooled, and your budget is not for shooting rockets—. The narrative thread of Believe through the eyes is to explain ourselves to the incredulous visitors of the 21st century, educated in the culture of the image, as it was believed in the 17th century, when pictures were reliable evidence, witnesses that what they imagined had actually happened. Especially if these were realistic like the ones that swarmed around our territory. Seeing Christ nailed to the cross was unequivocal proof of the martyrdom suffered by El Salvador and essential support to swallow Catholic doctrine. The painting that was done in the Iberian Peninsula was influenced by Italian currents - we must not forget that Naples was then part of the Spanish monarchy - dark, hard, realists and fond of chiaroscuro that so skillfully dominated Caravaggio. Here you have the crucifixion of St. Peter in an impressive foreshortening and the beheading of St. Paul a little gore by the Italian Mario Minniti as an example of tenebrism; three crucifixions that exemplify how the image acquired the aura of a relic, i l’Delivery of the icon of the Virgin of Grace to the Augustinians of Valencia, a painting that, like so many others, it validated a legend invented to give it legitimacy. S.M.
