San Nicolás de Tolentino
1667 - 1670. Oil on canvas.On display elsewhere
Together with other canvases in a similar format (P7113, P3065, P3066, P3366, P5144 y P7534), this work forms part of the decoration of the vault and the main arch of the church of the Agustinos Recoletos in Madrid. There they were seen by Palomino, who referred to them as having been painted lately, by which he possibly meant that they were the work of the artist’s last years. Ponz also saw them there, although he does not describe their themes, which Palomino had generically described as sacred doctors and other paintings.
The face of the saint, with its broad structure, is that on which the painter consistently modelled many of his male characters, as can be seen, for example, in the Saint Hermenegild of the Museo del Prado (P833) or the Saint Anthony of Aldeavieja (Ávila). The saint, an Augustinian monk, appears with his usual attributes: the partridge he brought back to life and the star on his chest. It seems clear that Herrera must have relied on collaborators, given the difference in quality and character between the various canvases in the set.
Pérez Sánchez, Alfonso E., Carreño, Rizi, Herrera y la pintura madrileña de su tiempo, Madrid, Ministerio de Cultura. Banco Herrero, 1986, p.274, nº110
