Francisco de Zurbarán
Born – Fuente de Cantos, Spain 1598
Died – Madrid, Spain 1664
Francisco de Zurbarán apprenticeship was undertaken in Seville, where he met Velasquez and became one of the city’s official painters. His commission to decorate the king’s palace in Madrid was most probably the result of his continuing friendship with the older, and more successful, Spanish artist. Zurbarán was chiefly a portrait painter and his religious subjects, depicting meditating saints, found favour in southern Spain’s many monastic and church institutions. From 1628, he worked on a number of paintings to be sent to monasteries in the Spanish colony of Guadalupe. After 1640 his austere, harsh, hard-edged style was unfavourably compared to the sentimental religiosity of Murillo and Zurbarán’s reputation declined. In 1658, he moved to Madrid in search of work and renewed his contact with Velasquez. Zurbarán died in poverty and obscurity. Still Life is one of the few masterly compositions that he produced of the subject. Four simple pots and bowls – strangely arranged along a line in the foreground – glow, backed by deep shadow. With the composition stripped to the bare minimum, this still life remains a meditative and mystical work of great beauty.
Masterpieces:
- Saint Margaret of Antoich
- St Serapion
Text: The A-Z of Art, Nicola Hodge and Libby Anson.
Books About francisco de zurbara n
Francisco de Zurbarán
Ronald Cohn Jesse Russell
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Francisco de Zurbarán: Su época, su vida y sus obras
José Cascales Y Muñoz
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Francisco de Zurbarán
Ronald Cohn Jesse Russell
Buy on Amazon