Vicente Salvador Gómez

Sale, London, Sotheby's, 20 April 2004, lot 35 (as Spanish School, 17th Century),
where purchased by the present owner

Vibrant and animated, this pen and ink drawing depicts winged putti in the clouds, carrying trophies.   Executed by the Valencian artist, Vicente Salvador Gómez, it is a study that is both playful and dynamic, cleverly capturing the upward movement of the putti as they scale the skies whilst navigating the weight of the trophies.

Vicente Salvador Gómez was born in Valencia to a family of artists and at a young age entered the studio of Jerónimo Jacinto Espinosa (1600-1667), who was the leading painter in Valencia at that time and whose own style was very much influenced by Francisco Ribalta (1565-1628). Gomez’s work demonstrates an interest in perspective, light and space and he drew inspiration from the Neapolitan and Roman painters of genre scenes.  In 1670 he was appointed director of a drawing academy in the Dominican Monastery in Valencia.

A stylistically similar drawing in pen and ink, illustrating the Christ Child with Angels, is in the Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid.¹

 1. D. Angulo & A.E. Pérez Sánchez, A Corpus of Spanish Drawings: Valencia 1600-1700, vol. IV, London 1988, p. 75, no. 384, reproduced, Pl. CXXII, no. 384