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| Artist | Camilo, Francisco (Spanish painter, ca. 1615-1671) |
| Title | Christ and the Virgin Crowning Juan de Dios with Thorns |
| Alternative/previous titles | Our Lady and Saint John the Evangelist Crowning Saint John of God with Thorns |
| Date | 1653 (dated) |
| Material | oil on canvas |
| Measurements | 233.5 x 127 cm (estimate) |
| Inscription | front ll 'F.co CML.o F.A. 1653' |
| Description | The vision represented in this painting was experienced by Saint Juan de Dios while he was praying in Granada. The founder of an order devoted to the care of the sick and poor, this Portuguese friar was said to have received a crown of thorns from the Virgin Mary and Christ, whose suffering he shared. Francisco Camilo's elongated figures and his harmonious palette exemplify the influence of Anthony Van Dyck on the Madrid school. Camilo specialised in religious subjects, for which his gentle, sentimental style was particularly suited. |
| Subject | religion (St Juan de Dios, Christ, Virgin) |
| Collection | Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle |
| Current accession number | B.M.810 |
| Acquisition details | Bequeathed by the founders John and Joséphine Bowes 1885. |
| Provenance | Possibly Hôpital Saint Jean de Dieu, Paris; purchased by John and Joséphine Bowes from the collection of the Conde de Quinto, 1862, cat. no. 15. |
| Principal exhibitions | Loan Exhibition of Pictures from the Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, Agnews, London, 1952; Four Centuries of Spanish Painting, Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, 1967, cat. no. 47. |
| Principal publications | Mayer, A. L., Geschichte der Spanischen Malerei, Leipzig, 1922; Harris, E., 'Spanish Pictures from the Bowes Museum', The Burlington Magazine, vol. 95, no. 598, 1953, pp. 22-25; Gaya Nuño, J., La Pintura Española fuera de España, Madrid, 1958; Kubler, G., and M. Soria, Art and Architecture in Spain and Portugal and their American Dominions, 1500 to 1800, Harmondsworth, 1959; Young, E., Catalogue of Spanish Paintings, Middlesbrough, 1988. |
| Notes | The inscribed date has also been read as '1560' (see Harris, op. cit., p. 24). The painting was probably made while Francisco Camilo was working for the Carthusian monastery of El Paular in Madrid and it might have been connected with that commission. According to museum records, this painting may have come from the Hôpital Saint Jean de Dieu in Paris, which was despoiled during the French Revolution, although no proof to support this provenance has been found. On St John of God, see Magliozzi, O. H., Le maitre de Jean, Marseille, 1987 (p. 42). |
| Rights status | The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, Co. Durham |
| Author | Dr Mercedes Cerón |
