John Stewart’s series Véroniques makes reference to Francisco de Zurbaran’s painting Le voile de Véronique, a mysterious work that has inspired many artists.
According to legend, a woman on the Via Dolorosa on the way to Calvary offered Jesus a veil with which to wipe his face. When he gave it back to her, the image of his face was left on the veil.
Saint Veronica (“vera” + “icon,” meaning “the true image”), represented as a woman holding a piece of fabric, became a theme in religious art. (The most common move in bullfighting, in which, the matador passes his cape over the bull’s face, is called a véronica.) Francisco de Zurbaran (1598-1664), the great Spanish Baroque painter, devoted several works to Saint Veronica. One in particular was used by Jean-Baptiste Oudry (1686-1755), Louis XIV’s favorite wildlife artist, as the background for a painting of a skinned hare.
The same painting by Zurbaran was the starting point for John Stewart’s two-year photographic investigation of the hanging folds of the drapes of cloth, Véroniques. Seven of the nine studies on the theme of “Veronica’s veil” will be on display at the Galerie Anne Clergue in Arles through October 4th, 2014.
EXHIBITION
Les Véroniques
Photographies de John Stewart
September 6 – October 4, 2014
La Galerie Anne Clergue
12, Plan de la Cour
13200 Arles
France
