Baroque Painting in Spain: A Comprehensive Guide
Baroque Painting in Spain
The seventeenth century represents the peak period of Spanish painting. It is interesting to note how political and economic decline coincided with a surge of great artistic and spiritual transcendence. Spain then had two great artistic centers: Madrid and Seville, but there were other smaller nuclei of resonance such as Valencia, Córdoba, Granada, etc. Of the three currents that developed in seventeenth-century European painting (naturalism, classicism, and Baroque decorative), it is the naturalist style that achieved the highest circulation in Spain because it coincided with the Spanish sensibility inclined to reality. The bulky Baroque style found no great response until the second half of the century when the style became more dynamic, colorful, and opulent.
Themes and Composition
The Church was largely responsible for commissioning works from artists. For this reason, mythological themes were less common, developed instead for royal palaces and noble residences. The most common themes are religious: the Virgin and Child, the Immaculate Conception, etc. The portrait is important for its quality and counts Velázquez among its top artists. The tavern scene also gained acceptance due to the naturalistic tendencies of Spanish painters (Zurbarán).
As for composition, many artists did not show great interest in the movement of figures, preferring static forms and using simple juxtaposition of objects and people in their compositions (Zurbarán). Others had great interest in movement and used the diagonal, a characteristic of the Baroque style. We must also emphasize the importance Spanish artists gave to light and perspective.
Major Schools and Artists
School of Valencia
Francisco Ribalta (1565-1628)
His style incorporates elements of Caravaggio’s art, showing great realism in his characters.
José Ribera (1591-1652)
One of the great masters of the mid-seventeenth century. His style employed tenebrism, but the intensity of light and rich colors give his work a very personal character. He was very interested in the strict representation of reality, and so his painting sometimes has extraordinary strength and drama. In his early work, strong tenebrism dominates. Over time, he moved away from the dark background and illuminated his scenes with a light golden color and rich nuances. Although the predominant theme in his work is religious, he was also interested in mythological subjects due to his connection with the Italian environment.
Important Works: Jacob’s Dream, The Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew.
Andalusian School
Francisco de Zurbarán (1598-1664)
One of the most important painters of the mid-century. His paintings clearly illustrate the ideals of the Counter-Reformation and the intense fervor of the Religious Orders. His painting, characteristic of the century’s realism, depicts his characters with great simplicity and is not interested in detail. He used a soft, clear tenebrism whose main mission is to define volumes, which are marked by precise drawing. His figures have an almost sculptural quality. His compositions are simple; however, all attention is applied to faces and hands, which acquire great expressive power. In all his characters, one can see a deep spirituality, rejecting violent feelings. He represented better than anyone the faces full of fervor of saints and monks. Zurbarán was an artist devoted almost exclusively to monastic themes, making numerous series for different orders.
Notable Works: Series held at the Convento de la Merced (Seville), Convent of San Buenaventura (Seville), La Cartuja de Jerez and Seville, and the Monastery of Guadalupe (Fra Gonzalo de Illescas).
Alonso Cano (1601-1667)
Another of the great painters of Andalusia. He tended towards ideal beauty. His painting is idealistic, refined, cultured, with delicate colors; the images are tender and sweet. He is best known for types such as The Virgin and Child, the Pietà, the Immaculate Conception, etc.
Juan de Valdés Leal (1622-1690)
His style is more concerned with the expression of beauty. He possessed superb skills as a colorist. He was melodramatic and guided his painting towards the unpleasant and macabre. Among his works, he painted the Last Things (or Jeroglíficos de la última fortuna y extravagancias de la vida humana) for the Charity Hospital in Seville.
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617-1682)
Born in Seville, Murillo was the quintessential painter of religious subjects, which he rendered with fervor in a sweet, colorful, and dynamic style. While fully Baroque, his work maintains compositional balance. He embellished reality and made it beautiful, even in themes of misery and poverty. His technique is exquisite, and his models have a certain feminine air. He was able to adapt to the prevailing taste, and if in the previous period saints were represented heroically, he began the approach of religion to the people. Murillo was essentially a painter of religious themes (The Holy Family with the Bird, Adoration of the Shepherds) and was very interested in Marian themes such as The Virgin and Child or The Immaculate Conception. Representations of children are important, such as The Divine Shepherd. In his genre painting, the scenes have a realistic treatment with a mischievous tone.
School of Madrid
Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (1599-1660)
One of the most important figures in Spanish painting, Velázquez bridged the gap between the realism of early seventeenth-century painting and the Baroque style of the latter half. He was born in Seville but made his career in Madrid. The large number of extant works allows us to know the evolution of his painting in great detail. Philip IV was a true patron of Velázquez. He worked at the Court; this provided economic stability and allowed him to develop his art without the pressure of selling his paintings to survive. His paintings are made slowly, with many layers and touches, as he was not pressed by time or money.
Stages:
• In its early years in Seville, is the natural direction tenebrists compositions using ocher and brown and tight technical . Attaches importance to the elements of still life and the individualization of the characters: The Old Woman Cooking Eggs, etc. The Water Seller of Seville. • First stage in Madrid. In 1623 established as a portrait painter in Madrid and began working for the Court. From this time his art evolves when he met great Italian painters, admiring their color and brightness. This will give impetus to the dark and began to paint mythological works: The Drunk. • The maturity of his style, calm and balanced, concerned about light and color began in the mid-30’s, after his first trip to Italy . His stay in Italy enriched his artistic conception emphasizing his interest in Venetian painting and adding to its elegance and compositional harmony characteristic of Italian art (the Forge of Vulcan). His technique in this period and after the turn of Italy is becoming more loose and light, seeking lighter shades and environmental. With these features painted works Breda The Surrender, also called The Spear, which is a historical fact and where the environment achieves great depth and transparency, balancing the figures and the media. It is important at this stage pictures, in which shinesilver tones as the name of Philip IV of Silver, and equestrian Felipe III, Margaret of Austria, Elisabeth of Bourbon-Conde Duque. His concern for the human condition is reflected in the representations of jesters and dwarves as in the Child of Vallecas. • On his second trip to Italy in 1649, Pope Innocent X painted, magnificent in its combination of white and crimson and capturing the personality of the model. His book The Mirror of Venus could be painted in Italy during these years. The subject is a female nude, exceptional in hesitant Spanish painting in the nude. • Final Period (1651-1660). Over the years the palette of Velasquez is completely liquid, disappearing the way and achieving unsurpassed quality. The paste is sometimes accumulates in quick brushstrokes of much effect, dilutes the contours and give the forms a mutable character almost impressionistic style. Achieve complete control of the aerial perspective, ie the representation of the depth function of the relationship between space-light, capturing the atmosphere between the bodies. His major works are now on Las Meninas and the Spinners who respond to this style and these qualities. In Las Meninas shows a remarkable mastery in the representation of space and light variations. perfect composition makes this picture in one of the masterpieces of the history of painting. The Spinners is one of the great paintings of Velazquez and shows his deep knowledge of mythology and the representation of light and atmosphere.