Francisco Zurbarán

Francisco Zurbarán (November 7 1598 – August 27 1664), was a Spanish painter, born at Fuente de Cantos in Extremadura.

Artistic Legacy

In 1627 he painted the great altarpiece of St. Thomas Aquinas, now in the Seville museum; it was executed for the church of the college of that saint there. This is Zurbarán's largest composition, containing figures of Christ, the Madonna, various saints, Charles V with knights, and Archbishop Deza (founder of the college) with monks and servitors, all the principal personages being more than life-size. It had been preceded by numerous pictures of the screen of St. Peter Nolasco in the cathedral.

Related Topics:
St. Thomas Aquinas - Seville museum - Christ - Madonna - Saints - Charles V - Knight - Archbishop Deza - St. Peter Nolasco

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In the church of Guadalupe he painted various large pictures, eight of which relate to the history of St. Jerome; and in the church of Saint Paul, Seville, a famous figure of the Crucified Saviour, in grisaille, creating an illusion of marble. In 1633 he finished the paintings of the high altar of the Carthusians in Jerez. In the palace of Buenretiro, Madrid are four large canvases representing the Labours of Hercules, an unusual instance of non-Christian subjects from the hand of Zurbarán. A fine example of his work is in the National Gallery, London: a whole-length, life-sized figure of a kneeling Franciscan holding a skull. It seems probable that another picture in the same gallery, the Dead Roland, which used to be ascribed to Diego Velázquez, is really by Zurbarán. His principal scholars, whose style has as much affinity to Ribera as to Caravaggio, were Bernabe de Ayala and the brothers Polanco.

Related Topics:
Guadalupe - St. Jerome - Saint Paul - Grisaille - Marble - 1633 - Jerez - Buenretiro - Labours - Hercules - National Gallery - London - Diego Velázquez - Bernabe de Ayala

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