Zurbarán's talent became apparent early on during his training with the painter Pedromadura Dias de Villanueva in Seville. He financed his livelihood with church commissions and became the city painter of Seville. Even after his appointment as royal court painter, Zurbarán remained a painter of silence, who created his profound works without drama.
No excitement arises from his pictures, no thoughtless movement of the figure's staff can be detected. Sacred seriousness, asceticism and a high degree of spirituality characterize his religious works, in keeping with the philosophy of life of the Dominican monks, to whom the painter was under contract to produce 21 paintings. In lifelong friendship with Diego Velázquez, he never reached his fame, but remained quietly in the background as an artist. Diligent and unagitated, just like the pious, reverent women and holy men in his works.
But it is precisely this silence that draws the viewer under its spell. He spreads out his "Agnus Dei", the Lamb of God, in the picture as if it had just been laid there. You can still feel the warmth of the dying body and you want to stretch out your hand to caress the delicate curls of the soft fur and pay the last respects to the poor tied up creature.
The naturalist artist's work was appreciated much too late, when the still life painters Jean Siméon Chardin or Giorgio Morandi declared Zurbarán their teacher. © Meisterdrucke
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Zurbarán's talent became apparent early on during his training with the painter Pedromadura Dias de Villanueva in Seville. He financed his livelihood with church commissions and became the city painter of Seville. Even after his appointment as royal court painter, Zurbarán remained a painter of silence, who created his profound works without drama.
No excitement arises from his pictures, no thoughtless movement of the figure's staff can be detected. Sacred seriousness, asceticism and a high degree of spirituality characterize his religious works, in keeping with the philosophy of life of the Dominican monks, to whom the painter was under contract to produce 21 paintings. In lifelong friendship with Diego Velázquez, he never reached his fame, but remained quietly in the background as an artist. Diligent and unagitated, just like the pious, reverent women and holy men in his works.
But it is precisely this silence that draws the viewer under its spell. He spreads out his "Agnus Dei", the Lamb of God, in the picture as if it had just been laid there. You can still feel the warmth of the dying body and you want to stretch out your hand to caress the delicate curls of the soft fur and pay the last respects to the poor tied up creature.
The naturalist artist's work was appreciated much too late, when the still life painters Jean Siméon Chardin or Giorgio Morandi declared Zurbarán their teacher. © Meisterdrucke
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