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Francisco de Zurbarán Biography

Francisco de Zurbarán

(Fuente de Cantos, 1598-Madrid, 1664) Spanish painter.At the age of fifteen Francisco de Zurbarán moved to Seville, where he was a disciple of the painter Pedro Díaz de Villanueva and met Velázquez.He married María Páez in 1617, and from that year until 1628 he remained in Llerena (Extremadura).Although there are documentary news of different works made by Zurbarán during this time, there is no known one that can be safely located at this time.

In 1625 Zurbarán married Beatriz Morales a second time.In 1627 he painted his first major signed and dated work: the Crucifixion of the oratory of the sacristy of the Sevillian Dominican convent of San Pablo el Real, for which in 1626 he had contracted the realization of twenty-one paintings in eight months.Between 1628 and 1629 he carried out a cycle of paintings for the Franciscan school of San Buenaventura.

The defense of Cádiz against the English (c.1634), by Zurbarán

Zurbarán's art appears already perfectly defined, and they appreciate in his painting the realistic force typical of the best Spanish painters of the time, his sense of order and monumentality; the dark background of his paintings already underlines the volumetric presence of the figures.

In 1629 he settled in Seville at the invitation of the Municipal Council of the city, and his reputation as a painter was so great that he did not have to pass the traditional exam to exercise his trade.Between 1630 and 1639 the most fruitful period in the work of this artist is located, which includes both still lifes ( Still life with oranges , 1633) and works on a religious theme ( Vision of Blessed Alonso Rodríguez , 1630; Apotheosis of Saint Thomas Aquinas , 1631; Saint Margaret ; Saint Elizabeth of Portugal ).

Called to Madrid in 1634, Francisco de Zurbarán participated in the decoration of the Salón de Reinos del Buen Retiro ( The defense of Cádiz against the English and the series on the Works of Hercules ); During this period, and following the example of Velázquez, he renounced tenebrism; in Tuscan classicism, sometimes influenced by the Venetian masters, he found a style commensurate with his aspirations.The paintings on the altarpiece in the Chapel of San Pedro in Seville Cathedral (1635-1636) allow us to appreciate its artistic evolution.

Saint Hugo in the Carthusian refectory (c.1645)

Again in Seville, Zurbarán worked for the convent of La Merced Barefoot (1636), for whom he painted several religious works.He also painted several pictures for the church of Nuestra Señora de la Granada, in Llerena, and for the Charterhouse of the Defensión de Jerez de la Frontera, and in 1639 he signed a contract with the monastery of San Jerónimo de Guadalupe for the realization of several paintings.The works made for the Caves of Seville ( Saint Bruno and Pope Urban II , Saint Hugo in the Carthusian refectory , Virgin of the Carthusians ).

In 1639 he was widowed again, and in 1644 he married the daughter of a goldsmith, Leonor de Tordera, in third nuptials.In 1650 he painted the Annunciation for the Count of Peñaranda; here shows a new style, in which the use of blur attempts to lessen the rigidity of the forms.In his Immaculate Conception Girl (1656) a clear influence of Guido Reni is also detected.In 1658 he moved to Madrid, where it seems that he painted a lot, although his art could not adapt to the general change in taste, oriented towards the full Baroque.

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