Illustration Cat. 8, in Juan de Roelas (2009). 141-142.
A topic that Pacheco assumed he wanted to discuss many years ago, the correct representation of the Christ child in the scene of his birth was clearly and explicitly announced: one should not paint Him laid on the ground naked. The author started with two iconographic examples from Fr Nadal’s illustrations (the first negative and the second positive, which should be followed as a model). Then he continued with a more severe discourse on Juan de Roelas, possibly a painter of Flemish origin and active in Valladolid, Seville, and Madrid, where he played an important role in the introduction of naturalistic formulas: the criticised painting by Pacheco was part of the iconographic program of the former main altarpiece of the Jesuit Casa Profesa (current church of the Annunciation) in Seville. Pacheco criticised one aspect of his iconography, namely that Roelas had not depicted the Child Jesus “girded and wrapped” as the Scriptures say, in imitation of Jacopo Bassano’s (1410-1592) painting at the Monastery of the Escorial. This passage – as argued by art historians – shows Pacheco’s pain at being left behind Roelas by his “esteemed Jesuits” in the artistic undertaking of this altarpiece. Despite that, Pacheco’s words of censure, on the other hand, brought up an important observation: this painting was attributed to different hands over the centuries, and was thanks to the him that the artwork Adoration of the Shepherds had the attribution to Ruelas.
“Let’s come to the mystery painting that I have wanted to talk about for many years: Two Nativities puts Fr. Nadal in his prints. In the first is the Child just born, naked, laid on the ground on the hay (where he adores the Virgin and St. Joseph and the angels) who took him up from there to wrap him and put him in the manger, having given him the breast, where the shepherds found him. And because we rarely see a Nativity without them, let this be the second which we shall always paint. Let the Virgin be painted inside the cave, with her robe and mantle, St. Joseph also, the Child, faxed and wrapped, the divine face uncovered, reclining in the manger, the two animals warming him with their breath, the singing angels hurrying to give the shepherds the news. […] We see that it is Catholic that, first of all, the virgin wrapped him in the manger; and this was the seal that was given to the shepherds so that they might know him: […]. Here of God! How do most painters paint him naked? They will say that it is more representative of poverty; and that a child is more beautiful naked than wrapped up, as we touched on in another place. I answer, that more beautiful is the truth and what the Holy Spirit intended by the profound mysteries that are contained in these clothes, and thus it is safer to lower the head and conform the painting to Scripture. It is good that we should quarrel with the painters for the lack of the cloths of the crib, some being as prodigal as Roelas in the Nativity of the Casa Profesa of this city, where, in my opinion, he put a sheet, and not a small one, as a bed for the Child Jesus in the hands of the Virgin, his Mother, imitating the Basano, leaving the Child naked. Assuming this, how dare they paint him like this? I answer: that it is not for me to do more than to warn you. The truth is that, when the sacred text did not say it, I do not know who would presume so little providence and mercy in his most holy Mother that she would expose him in such rigorous weather, and at midnight, to the inclemency of the cold.”
“Vengamos à la pintura misterio que ha muchos años que deseo hablar en ella: Dos Nacimientos pone en sus estampas el P. Nadal. En el primero está el Niño acabado de nacer, desnudo, puesto en la tierra sobre el heno (donde le adora la Virgen y San Josef y los ángeles) que de alli lo levantó para envolverlo y ponerte en el pesebre, habiéndole dado el pecho, donde lo hallaron los pastores Y porque casi no vemos Nacimiento sin ellos, sea este segundo d que habemos de pintar siempre. Pintese la Virgen dentro de la cueva, Arrudillada, con su tunica y manto, San Josef asimismo, el Niño, faxado y envuelto, el rostro divino descubierto, recinado en el pesebre, los dos animales calentándole con su aliento, ingeles cantande apureciendo a dar las nuevas a los pastores. […] Ya vemos que a de fe catolica que, primero que lo pusiese en el pesebre, lo envolvio la virgen; y ésta fue la seal que se les dio a los pastores para que lo conociesen:[…]. Cómo lo pintan casi todos los pintores desnudo? Dirán que así representa más la pobreza; y que es más hermoso un niño desnudo que envuelto, como tocamos en otro lugar. Respondo: que más hermosa es la verdad y lo que pretendió el Espíritu Santo con los profundos misterios que en estos paños se encierran, y, así, es más seguro baxar la cabeza y conformar la pintura con la Escritura. Bueno es que pongamos a pleito a los pintores por la falta de los paños del pesebre, siendo algunos tan pródiges como Roelas en el Nacimiento de la Casa Profesa desta Ciudad?, donde, a mi ver, puso una sábana y no pequeña, por cama al Niño Jesús en las manos de la Virgen, su Madre, imitando al Basan, dexindose el Niño desnudo. Supuesto lo dicho cómo se atreven a pintarlo asi? Respondo: que a mi no me toca más que advertirlo, Lo cierto es que, cuando no lo dixera el texto sagraùdo, no se quién presumiera tan poca providencia y piedad en su santísima Madre que lo expusiera en tan riguroso tiempo, y a la media noche, a las inclemencias del frío.”
Juan de Roelas: h. 1570 – 1625, edited by Junta de Andalucía, Consejería de Cultura 2008, 31-48, 41-142;
Pacheco 1990, 605, n.41; Pacheco 1990, 607,n.42, Pacheco 1990, 608,n.46;
