1642 -1693 · Madrid Baroque and court painting

Monumental altars, sacred visions and austere portraits place Claudio Coello at the height of Madrid's Baroque at the end of the Golden Age.

Born in Madrid in 1642 into a family of Portuguese origin, Claudio Coello learned drawing from Francisco Rizi. Thanks to his master and Juan Carreño de Miranda, he studied the royal collections of the Alcazar: Titian, Veronese, Rubens, Van Dyck and Venetian painters nourished a rich color, a broad composition and a very physical sense of presence. His first major religious commissions appeared in the 1660s. Altarpieces, domes and painted decorations allowed him to combine baroque illusion, the movement of figures and careful observation of faces. His first major religious commissions appeared in the 1660s. Altarpieces, domes and painted decorations allowed him to combine baroque illusion, the movement of figures and careful observation of faces. His first major religious commissions appeared in the 1660s. Altarpieces, domes and painted decorations allowed him to combine baroque illusion, the movement of figures and careful observation of faces. Appointed painter to King Charles II, he created the vast Holy Form for the sacristy of the Escorial painted ceremony where court portrait, real architecture and sacred apparition merge. Coello also practices portraiture, from the monk collected to the Queen of Spain, with a sobriety that balances the brilliance of the brocades. Died in Madrid in 1693, he is considered one of the last great masters of Spanish Baroque of the 17th century. The "Claudio Coello" selection notably compares The Virgin and Child between theological virtues and saints and Self-portrait. His reading favors drawing.

Coello unites the grandeur of the altar and the truth of the portrait: even in the miracle, each figure retains its human weight.