This work is a curious version of the Virgin of the Milk, a symbol of Mary’s compassion that serves, in this case, to comfort the souls in Purgatory. The subject, and especially its derivation here as The Virgin and the Souls of Purgatory -a mainly Italian avocation that is actually a Christianized version of the story of Juno and the Milky Way- was considered indecorous after the Counterreformation and was less frequently painted in the late 16th century.

This is the only signed work by Pedro Machuca, who dated it in 1517, just three years before returning to Spain. It is also the first known painting by this architect and painter who learned his trade in the circles of two of the greatest Renaissance painters: Raphael and Michelangelo. Machuca has been identified as the Petro Spagnolo mentioned by Michelangelo in a letter dated 1515, and his training in the Urbino workshop seems to be proven. There, he would have taken part in several of his teachers’s decorative projects in 1515 and 1516. Machuca’s presence has been attributed, precisely, on the basis of the stylistic proximity of this Virgin and the Souls of Purgatory. While Italian innovations reached Spain mainly by indirect means -mostly through prints- Machuca represents direct contact with the two principle sources of creation in Renaissance, without ignoring the provincial contributions of other painters who arrived in Rome in the early 16th century. Along with the chosen subject, both the pictorial technique and the powerful drawing and perception of color reveal the variety of stimuli that this artist from Toledo received during his years in Italy. Michelangelo’s influence is visible in his powerful contraposto of Mary, which is very close in form to the sibyls at the Sistine Chapel. His choice of colors reflects the same influence, although it is nuanced by his contact with Raphael. The composition also reflects Michelangelo’s influence, with an interest in blurred chiaroscuros and a concern for nocturnal effects visible in the souls in Purgatory. Other influences have been detected in the expressivity of the faces of the angels and of the figures in Purgatory, which have been linked to both Leonardo da Vinci and Rosso or Beccafumi.

This painting was acquired by the Spanish government in 1935 after it appeared in Spoleto, in the region of Perugia (Text drawn from Ruiz, L.: El Greco y la pintura española del Renacimiento. Guía, Museo del Prado, 2001, p. 38).