Circle of JUAN SIMÓN GUTÍERREZ (Medina Sidonia, Cádiz, 1643 - 1718). El Niño de la espina" ("The Boy with the Thorn"). Oil on canvas. Re-retouched. It presents restorations, repainting and faults on the pictorial surface. Measurements: 63 x 51 cm; 76 x 64 cm (frame). The work we are dealing with can be related to the painting of Juan Simón Gutiérrez, Sevillian artist who worked on the theme of the childhood of Christ, contrasting the sweetness and innocence of the little Christ with the dramatic symbolism of his fateful end.Christian art took delight throughout its history, and especially in the Modern Age, projecting on the innocent childhood of Jesus the shadow of the cross. The contrast between the happy unconcern of a child and the horror of the sacrifice to which he was predestined was designed to stir hearts. This idea was already familiar to the theologians of the Middle Ages, but the artists of the time expressed it discreetly. This iconography was relatively common in the Spanish Baroque, with such well-known examples as the one by Francisco de Zurbarán of 1630 (Museo de Bellas Artes, Seville), or the one linked to Murillo`s workshop in the Museo Félix Cañada in Madrid, or the one in the Museo del Prado in Madrid from the 17th century. This type of relationship with important themes was very common in Catholic Baroque painting, in which the Counter-Reformation encouraged a series of themes to support everything that the Protestants attacked. Subjects similar to the present one were depicted with the gentleness that was then considered appropriate for women`s convents, hence devotion to the Infant Jesus was particularly encouraged by this type of institution. The total absence of the usual drama of Baroque painting is striking. Juan Simón Gutiérrez trained in Seville, where he must have come into contact with Murillo, as is evident from the great influence that the master left on his works. He is recorded as being at the Seville Academy between 1664 and 1667, the year in which his marriage is documented. In 1680 he obtained the post of alcalde alamir and was responsible for the entrance examinations for new students at the Academy. His works can be found in religious centres such as the convent of La Trinidad in Carmona and the main church of Santa María la Coronada in Medina Sidonia, as well as in the Seville Museum of Fine Arts and the Los Angeles Museum of Fine Arts in the United States.