
Francisco de Zurbaran Painting Reproductions Gallery 1 of 2
1598-1664Spanish Baroque Painter
Francisco Zurbarán (November 7, 1598 - August 27, 1664), was a Spanish painter, born at Fuente de Cantos in Extremadura. His father was Luis Zurbarán, a country labourer; his mother, Isabel Marquet.
In childhood he set about imitating objects with charcoal. His father sent him, still young, to the school of Juan de Roelas in Seville. Zurbarán soon became the best pupil in the studio of Roelas, surpassing the master himself. Even though Seville was full of able painters, he left with a solid reputation.
Style
He may have had here the opportunity of copying some of the paintings of Michelangelo da Caravaggio; at any rate, he gained the name of the Spanish Caravaggio, owing to the forcible, realistic style in which he excelled. He constantly painted direct from nature, following but occasionally improving on his model; and he made great use of the lay-figure in the study of draperies, in which he was peculiarly proficient. He had a special gift for white draperies; as a consequence, the houses of the white-robed Carthusians are abundant in his paintings. To these rigid methods, Zurbarán is said to have adhered throughout his career, which was prosperous, wholly confined to Spain, and varied by few incidents beyond those of his daily labour. His subjects were mostly severe and ascetic religious vigils, the spirit chastising the flesh into subjection, the compositions seldom thronged and often reduced to a single figure. The style is more reserved and chastened than Caravaggio's, the tone of color often quite bluish. Exceptional effects are attained by the precisely finished foregrounds, massed out largely in light and shade.
Later life
While in Seville, Zurbarán married Leonor de Jordera, by whom he had several children. Towards 1630 he was appointed painter to Philip IV; and there is a story that on one occasion the sovereign laid his hand on the artist's shoulder, saying "Painter to the king, king of painters." After 1640 his austere, harsh, hard edged style was unfavorably compared to the sentimental religiosity of Murillo and Zurbarán’s reputation declined. It was only in 1658, late in Zurbarán’s life that he moved to Madrid in search of work and renewed his contact with Velazquez. Zurbarán died in poverty and obscurity.
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.
In Santa Maria de 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.
43 Paintings of Zurbaran
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Alte Pinakothek Munich Germany
Saint Francis in Ecstasy
$492
$82.68
Norton Simon Museum of Art Pasadena USA
Still Life with Oranges, Lemons and Rose
$614
$69.01
Cleveland Museum of Art Ohio USA
Christ and the Virgin in the House at Nazareth
$1153
$54.38
Prado Museum Madrid Spain
Agnus Dei
$526
$47.90
San Diego Museum of Art California USA
Agnus Dei
$517
$47.90
Louvre Museum Paris France
The Exhibition of the Body of St. Bonaventure
$79.35
National Gallery London United Kingdom
St. Francis in Meditation
$611
$101.56
Prado Museum Madrid Spain
Appearance of St. Peter to St. Peter Nolasco
$811
$78.46
Musee des Beaux Arts Grenoble France
Adoration of the Shepherds
$71.91
Louvre Museum Paris France
St. Apollonia
$683
$47.90
Prado Museum Madrid Spain
Hercules and the Cretan Bull
$717
$86.82
Museo Diocesano de Siguenza Guadalajara Spain
The Immaculate Conception
$829
$82.21
Private Collection
The Immaculate Conception
$838
$77.77
Bowes Museum County Durham United Kingdom
Levitation of St. Francis
$701
$69.39
Museo de Cadiz Cadiz Spain
Portrait of the Devout John Houghton
$633
$47.90
Prado Museum Madrid Spain
Vision of St. Peter Nolasco
$1020
$77.97
Museo de Bellas Artes Seville Spain
St. Gregory the Great
$982
$55.78
Museo de Bellas Artes Seville Spain
The Apotheosis of St. Thomas Aquinas
$70.13
Prado Museum Madrid Spain
St. Luke as a Painter before Christ on the Cross
$721
$83.64
Prado Museum Madrid Spain
St. Euphemia
$651
$74.22
Museo de Bellas Artes Seville Spain
St. Hugh of Cluny in the Refectory of the Carthusians
$71.36
Prado Museum Madrid Spain
Hercules Fighting with the Nemean Lion
$755
$77.97
Louvre Museum Paris France
St. Bonaventure at the Council of Lyons in 1274
$81.84
Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts Moscow Russia
Virgin and Child
$690
$57.42
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