1598 -1664 · Spanish Golden Age, monastic tenebrism and sacred reality

Silhouettes sculpted by light, silent fabrics, bare objects and concrete fervor make Zurbaran the great painter of Spanish monastic life.

Francisco de Zurbaran was born in 1598 in Fuente de Cantos, Extremadura. He trained in Seville with Pedro Diaz de Villanueva between 1614 and 1617, in an environment where Pacheco, Herrera and the young Velazquez also worked. He then settled in Llerena before being called to Seville in 1626 by the Dominicans of San Pablo. The great conventual commissions defined his personality. Carthusians, Franciscans, hieronymites and Mercedarians are represented with unemphasized gravity. Light detaches the face, homespun and hands from a dark background; It gives the body the stability of a sculpture and transforms the everyday object into a sign of meditation. In 1628, Zurbaran settled definitely in Seville and runs a workshop capable of responding to orders from Andalusia and the New World. His series of founding saints, virgin martyrs and monastic episodes combine iconographic repetition and precise observation of materials. Saint Francis, according to the vision of Pope Nicholas V, summarizes this power: the monk appears standing, almost mummified, isolated in an austere light which abolishes all superfluous decoration. Zurbaran also excels in still life. A few containers or a lamb on a table take on a spiritual dimension through geometry and silence. A few containers or a lamb on a table take on a spiritual dimension through geometry and silence. A few containers or a lamb on a table take on a spiritual dimension through geometry and silence. Zurbaran also excels in still life. A few containers or a lamb on a table take on a spiritual dimension through geometry and silence. A few containers or a lamb on a table take on a spiritual dimension through geometry and silence. A few containers or a lamb on a table take on a spiritual dimension through geometry and silence. A few containers or a lamb on a table take on a spiritual dimension through geometry and silence. Zurbaran also excels in still life. A few containers or a lamb on a table take on a spiritual dimension through geometry and silence. A few containers or a lamb on a table take on a spiritual dimension through geometry and silence. A few containers or a lamb on a table take on a spiritual dimension through geometry and silence. A few containers or a lamb on a table take on a spiritual dimension through geometry and silence. A few containers or a Defense of Cadiz and a series of the Labors of Hercules. Contact with the royal collections enriched his color without dissolving his austerity. On his return, the cycles of the Carthusian monastery of Jerez and the monastery of Guadalupe marked its peak. From the 1640s, Murillo's growing favor reduced his Sevillian commissions; he produced more for America and tried to soften his style. Returning to Madrid in 1658, he died there in 1664. His art remained unique in its ability to make mystery visible in the simplicity of a body, a fabric or an object. He returned to Madrid in 1658, he died there in 1664. His art remained unique in its ability to make mystery visible in the simplicity of a body, a fabric or an object. His art remained unique in its ability to make mystery visible in the simplicity of a body, a fabric or an object. His art remained unique in its ability to make mystery visible in the simplicity of a body, a fabric or an object. His art remained unique in its ability to make mystery visible in the simplicity of a body, a fabric or an object. His art remained unique in its ability to make mystery visible in the simplicity of a body, a fabric or an object. His art remained unique in its ability to make mystery visible in the simplicity of a body, a fabric or an object. His art remained unique in 1664 through his ability to make mystery visible in the simplicity of a body, a according to the vision of Pope Nicholas V. Its reading favors drawing.

Zurbaran never separates the sacred from reality: the homespun, the skin, ceramics and light become the very instruments of contemplation.