In 1924 Pablo Picasso praised Zurbarán as an intensely Spanish painter, still little known in France. A century later, this book sets out to give a complete picture of the painter’s life and work, and of what he has meant to artists and audiences over the past four centuries.
Written by Javier Portús, head of the Spanish Baroque Painting collection at the Museo del Prado and curator of landmark exhibitions on Velázquez and Spanish portraiture, the book opens with a chronological account of Zurbarán‘s biography and major achievements. It then turns to the larger questions of his career: his creative awareness and professional pride, his relationships with fellow artists, the role of religious institutions and private clients, his gift for inventing new iconographic types, and his place in the Spanish and European art of his time.
A final strand of the book looks at how historians and artists of the 19th and 20th centuries reshaped Zurbarán‘s image to suit their own aesthetic, political and moral ideas, often distorting both his professional profile and the nature of his work.
Illustrated with 191 color plates, it is an essential read for collectors and readers interested in Spanish Golden Age painting, Baroque art and the history of taste.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.