FRANCISCO RODRÍGUEZ DE TOLEDO (Toledo, died 1765)."Imposición de la casulla a san Ildefonso".Oil on canvas.Signed and dated in the lower left corner.Reinforced with bands.Attached copy of the study "Francisco Rodríguez de Toledo. Pintor toledano del siglo XVIII" (Anales Toledanos, nº 18, 1984), Juan Nicolau Castro.Measurements: 178 x 114,5 cm.Saint Ildefonso of Toledo (Toledo, 607-667), son of Visigoth parents and nephew of Saint Eugene III, was archbishop of Toledo between 657 and 667, and is one of the Fathers of the Church. He studied in Seville under the tutelage of Saint Isidore, and entered the Order of Saint Benedict, fleeing from his parents, noblemen who were opposed to his priestly life. He was later elected abbot of Agalia, near Toledo, and finally archbishop. St. Ildefonso unified the liturgy in Spain, and wrote numerous liturgical and dogmatic works, particularly on the Virgin Mary. The best known passage in his biography is the miracle of his encounter with the Virgin Mary. On the night of 18 December 665, St. Ildefonso went to the church to sing hymns in honour of Mary, accompanied by his clerics and a few other people. When they entered, however, they found the chapel shining with such a dazzling light that they were afraid. All fled except Ildefonso and his two deacons, who entered and approached the altar. Before them was the Virgin Mary, seated on the bishop's chair, surrounded by a company of virgins singing heavenly songs. Mary beckoned the saint to approach and, having obeyed, she fixed her eyes upon him and said: "You are my chaplain and faithful notary. Receive this chasuble which my Son sends you from his treasury". Having said this, the Virgin herself invested him, instructing him to wear the chasuble only on the feast days designated in her honour.In his study "Francisco Rodríguez de Toledo. Pintor toledano del siglo XVIII" (Anales Toledanos, no. 18, 1984), Juan Nicolau Castro investigates the biography of this artist, based on sources found in the Provincial Historical Archive. He notes that he was a painter born in Toledo and that he made his will in 1764, dying the following year. Nicolau has found little about his professional activity, although he indicates that he was undoubtedly a prestigious artist, given that he appraised numerous paintings in inventories (work commissioned from prestigious masters) and that he worked as a painter in Toledo cathedral during the years when Andrés Tomé was the cathedral's painter. He also mentions that in 1756 he was paid 500 reales de vellón for retouching some twenty paintings to be placed in the vestry of the Sacristy of the same church. He mentions only two known paintings by him, the first mentioned by Parro as being located under the gallery of the church of San Miguel, no longer extant, which would have depicted a Marian theme and would have been signed and dated 1751. The second, which has survived to the present day, is a monumental "Santiago Matamoros" from the now disappeared Hospital de Santiago de los Caballeros, now in the assembly hall of the Diputación Provincial de Toledo. Nicolau analyses the work and points out that "the landscape beneath it is lost in the distance and presents a rich and subtle gradation of colours that makes us wish to see a greater number of works in order to better understand the painter's style". The scholar goes on to point out that Rodríguez de Toledo must have enjoyed a comfortable financial situation, given the contents of the inventory of his assets, which included a notable collection of 18th-century paintings from Toledo. Subsequently, the researchers Castañón, Blanco and Sánchez (2005) have provided new data on Rodríguez de Toledo's career. We now know that in 1720 he was commissioned to repaint the paintings in the upper part of the Chapel of San Blas in Toledo Cathedral.