The solemn depth of the night of Good Friday quintessences the incense of fragrant incense that opens clenched fists to drop the swords of punishment. All grudges crumble at the vanishing point of two rosaries of green hope, from where the Brotherhood of La Verónica emerges far away, like from a gloomy forum, in the old town of Parasceve Ciezano, gently cradling, on its glaucous shoulders, the immeasurable Sweet sadness of a conspicuous Cordovan bard.

Now that the distinguished Francisco Romero Zafra, one of the greatest Spanish exponents of sacred sculptural art, has publicly announced his upcoming retirement -in 2021 he will turn 65- it is appropriate to take advantage of the moment to assess, through a small sample button, the international repercussion that he has managed to achieve with the aesthetic forcefulness of his work. And, in a very particular way -although also partially sweeping exclusively towards our brother Cieza- refer to the role of national ambassador, and even international, of Ciezana Holy Week, which has recently acquired one of the works that the Andalusian image maker gave birth to for the processions of this espartera land: Our Lady of Bitterness, a beautiful Virgin of Sorrows that the Cordovan brought to the banks of the Segura in 2009 and who since then has been parading in the Procession of the Holy Burial, on a throne of the Higuera Brothers, cover by the brothers of La Verónica.

The artistic beauty of Ciezana's Bitterness has made it the plenipotentiary of its creator in Spain and abroad; but, not only of this southern poet of the gouge, but, consequently, in the same way, he has erected her as an emissary of the city that welcomes her and pays her admiring tribute and, therefore, as a consul of her passion parades.

 

One of the proofs of her name and seductive capacity is discovered in that, in the month of April of the same year of its premiere, 2009, the face of the Lady of Good Friday subjugated her editorial board, managing to be on the cover of the magazine international dissemination 'Miriam', edited by the Discalced Carmelites of Andalusia, a publication that can be accessed in most parts of the planet.

Nine years later, 2018, a graffiti made within the artistic project 'Transitando Fusión', developed by Dominican creators in Spain, reproduced an image of the Virgin of the Brotherhood of La Verónica that is kept in the Plaza Poeta Leopoldo de Luis in Madrid . The event was an important amplifier of the existence of the stature for all of Latin America, since we are referring to the second edition of 'Transitando Fusión España 2018', held within the framework and in the month of Hispanic Heritage for an artistic movement that managed to culminate successfully staging various cultural manifestations from different countries in key areas of the capital of the country, as well as in points of the city of Valencia. Said meeting was coordinated by Héctor Luis Farías and Dominican students from the Alicia Alonso Dance Institute and plastic artists from Latin America and various European enclaves participated in it, offering hundreds of visitors a display of color, rhythms, creativity and cultural exchange under the official sponsorship of the Embassy of the Dominican Republic and the support of cultural institutions and volunteers from different social areas, such as Zebra Arte Experimental, CESAR ORG and some of the most influential artistic collectives in the Dominican Republic and Spain at that time, including Desearte Madrid, HD Crew or Medium Weight among others.

Within this artistic maelstrom, the painting workshop with young people held in the Poeta Leopoldo de Luis square on October 9 of that year gave rise to the imitation of Our Lady of Bitterness in one of the murals of this capital forum.

Finally, the latest evidence -so far and of which we have news- on its international popularity came to us a few weeks ago via Twitter. We are talking about a painting by the Russian artist and 'influencer' Polly Kole, whose works circulate on social networks with a global following and who, from Los Angeles (USA), the city where she currently lives, has been captured by the persuasive magnetism of one of the main protagonists of the Santo Entierro ciezano rewriting the devotion -at least, or at least, plastic- that the image of Romero Zafra already aroused since his blessing in Cieza in March 2009.