Spanish painter
Francisco de Zurbarán
was born,
November 7, 1598
in Fuente de Cantos, Extremadura [Spain]
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Zurbarán, was a quintessential monastic painter, absolutely identified with devout passion and miracles that he presented in a straightforward, direct, severe and everyday manner.
He was a faithful interpreter of monastic sentiments and he presented nature with an astonishing sense of reality . His use of light reflects the influence of Caravaggio -intense but never overly harsh- and serves to bring out the sculptural values of each shape. He never strayed from early 17th-century tenebrism, ignoring the Baroque’s decorative evolution as that century advanced, and it was only towards the end of his life that he attempted, with little success, to soften his formulas in order to more closely resemble Murillo.
Zurbarán was also known as the “Spanish Caravaggio,” owing to the forceful use of chiaroscuro in which he excelled.
So here’s a glimpse of his work [no quotes…]
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I have chosen
Agnus Dei
by the English composer of the Renaissance
William Byrd (1543-1623)
as Zurbarán, Agnus Dei,
was the first painting I saw from this artist and still my favorite one.
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The Tallis Scholars • Dir. Peter Phillips
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For more information on Zurbarán:
https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/francisco-de-zurbaran
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_de_Zurbar%C3%A1n
https://www.museobilbao.com/obras-comentadas/zurbarn-francisco-de-1
https://www.wikiart.org/en/francisco-de-zurbaran
Marina Kanavaki 
Another artist I didn’t know, so thanks for sharing. Incredible detail with wonderful color balance. I like his style. Monastic seems like a bit of an understatement. 😉 … The Death of St Bonaventure was my favorite. Hope you had a good weekend.
Brilliant painting indeed! Mine still is Agnus Dei… so glad I introduced this painter to you. Yes understatement indeed! 😉
Busy weekend but nice!
Wishing you a wonderful week ahead!
Yamas!!!!!
Busy weekend here, too … and weather is abnormally warm!
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Now that is Sunday music that I love to listen to. Thank you for introducing this artist to me!
Oh, I’m so happy to hear that! I was actually thinking of you when I was listening to W. Byrd as I remembered you liked renaissance music. Happy Sunday!! xoxoxo
Really? How sweet are you!
Happy Sunday to you as well! xoxo
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Excellent post. I’ve seen most of these paintings in person and they are wonderful. I love how he used himself as the painter admiring Christ on the cross. One thing we really miss about Madrid was our Sunday visits to the Prado.
Oh, you are so fortunate! I haven’t seen any of his paintings live and first one I saw was Agnus Dei which really really caught my attention!!!!! I agree, clever using himself as a painter in that painting.
You need to make a pilgrimage to the Prado one of these days. Have you been to the Louvre?
I do… but I wonder if we’ll ever be able to travel again! Yes I have and Centre Pompidou and Musée d’Orsay, although my Louvre visit was short [was in Paris for a weekend].
I hope we can travel again. We’re supposed to go to Belgium in August 2021 for a conference that was postponed a year because of covid cooties. When we were in Paris for three weeks in 2013, we rented an apartment by the Opera that was one kilometer from the Louvre. We missed only one day of going to the Louvre because they closed it to the public while the President of France was visiting it. The Centre Pompidou and Musée d’Orsay were fun. Centre Pompidou is an interesting architectural concept, but I thought it did not function very well.
We went to really cool show on dark romanticism at the Musée d’Orsay. Not only was it dark, but it was dark. The only lights on during the show were on the artwork. The show was only open late at night to enhance the darkness of the artwork.
Wow! How wonderful! I agree with you on C.Pompidou. The dark show sounds fun and very interesting! 😉 Fingers crossed on travels…