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| Artist | Attributed to Arredondo, Isidoro (Spanish painter, 1653-1702) |
| Previous attributions | Previously attributed to school of Coello, Claudio (Spanish painter, 1642-1693) |
| Title | The Vision of Saint Gertrude with Saint Augustine and the Holy Trinity |
| Date earliest | possibly about 1673 |
| Date latest | possibly about 1712 |
| Material | oil on canvas |
| Measurements | 246.5 x 164 cm (estimate) |
| Inscription | front c 'GERTR' |
| Description | The vision of the Benedictine nun Saint Gertrude of Helfta was probably painted for the ceiling of an unidentified church in Madrid. The male saint with the flaming heart may be Saint Augustine, who also wrote on the subject of visionary contemplation. This painting has been attributed to Isidoro Arredondo, who specialised in religious subjects and theatrical decorations. The composition follows instructions on the appropriate representation of visions prescribed in Vicente Carducho’s Dialogues on Painting (1633). Arredondo would have learned the art of quadratura, the expertise in perspectival construction, from Francisco Rizi, with whom he studied in Madrid. |
| Subject | religion (St Gertrude of Helfta, St Augustine(?), Trinity) |
| Collection | Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle |
| Current accession number | B.M.1008 |
| Acquisition details | Bequeathed by the founders John and Joséphine Bowes 1885. |
| Provenance | Purchased by John and Joséphine Bowes from the collection of the late Conde de Quinto, 1869(?), cat. no. 101, as by 'Miranda', through Benjamin Gogué, Paris, 50 francs. |
| Principal exhibitions | Four centuries of Spanish Painting, Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle,1967, cat. no. 61. |
| Principal publications | Young, E., Catalogue of Spanish and Italian Paintings, The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, 1970, p. 30, pl. 7; Pérez Sánchez, A. E., Archivo Español de Arte, vol. 43, 1970, p. 358; Pérez Sánchez, A. E., 'Un lienzo de Arredondo para el Prado', Boletín del Museo del Prado, vol. 1, no. 1, 1980, pp. 17-22, pl. 6; Young, E., Catalogue of Spanish Paintings, Middlesbrough, 1988, pp. 38-40. |
| Notes | This painting has been tentatively attributed to Isidoro Arredondo by Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez, from the Prado, on the grounds of its resemblance to a drawing The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa by Arrendondo (private collection, Madrid). Pérez Sánchez also ventured the name of José Ximénez Donoso. In correspondence (1961), Enriqueta Frankfort supported Martin Soria's attribution to a follower of Claudio Coello and wrote that 'the vision of the Trinity and the flaming heart are certainly connected with St. Augustine', referring to a Vision of St Augustine by Anthony Van Dyck in Antwerp as an example. The depiction of the architecture on the right suggests a certain proficiency in the art of quadratura, introduced in Spain between 1658 and 1662 by two Italian artists, Angelo Colonna and Agostino Mitelli, who taught Francisco Rizi and Juan Carreño de Miranda. Isidoro Arrendondo studied with Francisco Rizi until 1685. |
| Rights status | The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, Co. Durham |
| Author | Dr Mercedes Cerón |
