ZURBARAN Francisco de
Spanish Baroque Era Painter, 1598-1664
Spanish painter. He was apprenticed in 1614 to a painter in Sevilla (Seville), where he lived until 1658 when he moved to Madrid. He had a few royal commissions but remained throughout his life a provincial painter of religious pictures. His apostles, saints, and monks are painted with almost sculptural modeling, and his emphasis on the minutiae of their dress lends verisimilitude to their miracles, visions, and ecstasies. This distinctive combination of naturalism with religious sensibility conforms to the guidelines for Counter-Reformation artists outlined by the Council of Trent. He had numerous commissions from monasteries and churches throughout southern Spain, and many of his works were sent to Lima, Peru.
ID: 62298 The Holy Family 121,5 x 97 cm Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest Whereas the names and works of Vel?zquez and Murillo were known and appreciated by European connoisseurs at a relatively early date, Zurbar?n was scarcely known outside Spain, and even now there are not very many of his works to be found in European galleries. Born in Fuente de Cantos, a small village in Estremadura, he studied in Seville and most of his work, almost exclusively commissions for monastic orders and churches, was done there. These circumstances determined his themes and the way he treated them: he painted hardly anything but religious subjects, mostly scenes from the lives of the saintly or monastic visionaries. His pictures are generally characterized by a severe structure, vigorous forms, rustic models and a close and detailed observation of nature. During the last years of his life Zurbar?n worked in Madrid where, mainly under the influence of Murillo, his interpretation became softer, his way of expression more lyrical and his colours lighter. The Holy Family (The Rest on the Flight to Egypt), signed and dated 1659, is a remarkable example of this late period: a simple composition of half-length figures with an intimate charm and emotionalism strongly reminiscent of Murillo
