This small canvas belongs to the category of genre paintings by the great artist. It is quite different from its somewhat pretentious and mannered works in the Baroque style, created for churches and monasteries. In contrast to the pictures of the church theme, here you will not find unnatural poses and rich lush robes.
The simple girl from the Spanish province of Galicia was forever imprinted on the canvas. She is holding a coin in her hand and is clearly rejoicing at its receipt. Perhaps the artist himself gave her to the girl for posing for the picture. The girl has a simple linen garment, which clearly refers her to the lower classes of the then society, who preferred silk and brocade.
The head of the Spaniard is covered with a large piece of light-colored fabric draped with beautiful expressive folds. Here the skill of the painter was fully manifested, because we can literally feel the texture of this material. The girl is depicted on a modest dark background, neutral, absolutely without details. This gives us the opportunity to focus our attention on the face – young, smiling, but with hidden sadness in the eyes.
The expressive black eyes of the girl do not smile, they do not even look directly at the artist, but are set aside slightly to the side. What thought owned it at that moment? We will never know, but everyone has a chance to come up with their own story of a girl with a coin.
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