around 1590 - around 1654 · Sevillian naturalism, Spanish baroque and free brush

Robust figures, earthly light, nervous touch and monumental narration make Francisco de Herrera the Elder a major player in the transition from Mannerism to Sevillian Baroque.

Francisco de Herrera, known as el Viejo or the Old Man to distinguish him from his son, was born in Seville around 1590. Coming from a family linked to illumination and engraving, he probably learned the first rudiments in his father's workshop. Ancient sources also evoke a passage with Francisco Pacheco, without complete certainty. His first works preserve the line and patterns of late mannerism, but Herrera quickly developed a more naturalistic way. His early works retain the line and patterns of late mannerism, but Herrera quickly developed a more naturalistic way. His early works retain the line and patterns of late mannerism, but Herrera quickly developed a more naturalistic way. His early works retain the line and patterns of late mannerism, but Herrera quickly developed a more naturalistic way. His early works retain the line and patterns of late mannerism, but Herrera quickly developed a more naturalistic way. His early works retain the line and patterns of late mannerism, but Herrera quickly developed a more naturalistic way. His early works retain the line and patterns of late mannerism, but Herrera quickly developed a more naturalistic way. His early works retain the line and patterns of late mannerism, but Her a Franciscan from San Buenaventura, between 1626 and 1628 he produced a vast cycle mixing frescoes and large canvases. The Healing of Saint Bonaventure as a child and Saint Bonaventure receiving the habit show his ability to unite doctrine, emotion and concrete crowd. Monks, children, old men and saints have solid bodies, individualized faces and widely readable gestures. Saint Basil dictating his rule constructs the intellectual authority of the saint through scale, lighting and the group of secretaries. Herrera also practices portraiture, genre painting, drawing and engraving. His quick and energetic pen sheets constitute one of the most recognizable corpora of the spanish Baroque. Tradition states that the young Velazquez briefly attended his studio, although the duration and nature of this apprenticeship remain debated. His son, Francisco de Herrera the Younger, also became a painter, but in a more decorative Baroque after an Italian stay. Herrera the Elder settled in Madrid around 1650 and died there around 1654. His open brush and his naturalist force prepared the Sevillian golden age. The selection "Francisco de Herrera el Viejo" notably compares Saint Basil dictating his rule and The Healing of Saint Bonaventure as a child. His reading favors composition.

Herrera the Old brings the air of reality into the altarpiece: the saints remain monumental, but their faces, their hands and their weight belong to the lived world.