File:Francisco de Zurbaran; his epoch, his life and his works (1918) (14742693176).jpg

Identifier: franciscodezurba00casc (find matches)
Title: Francisco de Zurbaran; his epoch, his life and his works
Year: 1918 (1910s)
Authors: Cascales y Muñoz, José, 1865- Evans, Nellie Seelye, "Mrs. Dudley Evans," tr
Subjects: Zurbarán, Francisco, 1598-1664
Publisher: New York, Priv. print
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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m that his works give a vivid or profoundimpression, but they always breathe gravity and a re-ligious devotion; yet they do not merit the title ofmediocre which is very often given them. D. Manuel Bartolomé Cossio, whose authority is of thehighest, has written the following46 which coincides inmany points with the criticism given by Blanc. Withgreat accuracy Blanc says: There never has been apainter, not excepting Murillo, who has better reflectedthe two most pronounced tendencies of the Spanish char-acter, namely a passion for reality, and an aspiration forthe ideal; a singular characteristic of a people who areseduced by the beautiful appeal of material things, andwho, nevertheless, are drawn with ease toward the mostexalted and subtle spiritualism. Zurbarán was indeed apainter entirely local, and one in whom we are able tosee one of the highest and purest exponents of Spanishpainting. He always studied Nature directly, and isquite as robust and masculine as Ribera, whom he re- 68
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ST. INEZHospital of the Blood, Seville. sembled in the claro-obscuro, for which writers havelikened him to Caravaggio. Zurbarán naturally belongs to the Andalusian Schoolof painting, and yet has more resemblance to Velasquez(who passes as the founder of the School of Madrid) thanto Murillo, the real representative of the former. Zur-barán and Velazquez are of the same family in point ofvigor and energy, and in the virility with which they con-ceived and executed. Without deciding upon the merits,great or small, which they possessed, it is clear that thetone of their spirit and productions is quite other thanMurillos, and that they are in more accord with eachother than with the latter in what they represent. Thefigures of Zurbarán are very individual, the charactersfull of life, the drawing vigorous, the light definite andthe shadows perfect; and he excites admiration by the wayhe paints white cloths, although the arrangement of thedraperies at times is forced. His greatest picture

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