REVALUACIÓN DE JUAN DE VALDÉS LEAL: CLAVES DE IN ICTU OCULI

The iconographic elements that compose this painting on the topic of vanitas convey a unitary and coherent message. In ictu oculi is in tune with the building where it is exhibited (the Hospital de la Caridad in Seville), its location (the area below the choir in the church of this institution), and the painting thataccompanies it (Finis Gloriae Mundi by Valdés Leal). Besides the tradition of the danses macabres, its principal influences are Christian anti-intellectualism and Epicureanism (the latter reinforced with Stoicism), which are elements that also appear in the written works of Miguel Mañara, founder of the hospital and friend of Juan Valdés Leal. The anti-intellectual component (that is a rejection of knowledge and study) appears in medieval hagiography, the Kempis or Miguel de Molinos; the Epicurean-stoic element (that is a maritime adventure in search of riches) can be seen in Horace and those who are influenced by him directly or indirectly (among them Fray Luis de León and the captain Andrés Fernández de Andrada), as well as in Virgil and Seneca.