Baroque masters: the Madrid School
While Murillo, Zurbarán et al worked away in Seville,
a parallel, if less acclaimed, school of Madrid artists
followed a similar path through Naturalism. Some artists,
notably Velázquez, actually created important work in
both cities. Vicente Carducho, Florentine by birth, was
among the first to move on from Mannerism in Madrid,
painting the usual religious episodes with heightened
anatomical veracity in the first decades of the 17th
century. Half a century later came Juan Carreño de
Miranda and Francisco Rizi.They replaced Velázquez’
humanly, terrestrial work in court with all the celestial
pomp of Italian Baroque, painting grand ceilings and
altarpieces complete with cherub-bearing clouds.
Claudio Coello, another court artist, was the last of the
great 17thcentury Spanish painters. HisSagrada Forma
(1685-90), a painting of Carlos II worshipping in the
sacristy of El Escorial where the painting is actually
housed, captures his dual focus on royal and divine
power.
The Spanish Michelangelo
While he worked briefly in Madrid under the patronage
of Felipe IV, Alonso Cano spent much of his time in his
native Granada. As a sculptor, painter and architect,
Cano is sometimes lauded as the Spanish Michelangelo,
although his work had a stronger realism. He had
something of Velázquez’ grasp of brushstrokes and, like
his contemporary and friend, painted secular subjects
alongside the standard religious fare. His personal life
wasn’t without incident: after a spell in prison for debt,
Cano was arrested and tortured on suspicion of hiring an
assassin to bump off his wife.The charges never stuck
and he joined the Church, eventually working as an
artist-in-residence at Granada Cathedral.
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- Identity: the
building blocks of
2. Literature
and philosophy
3. Art and
architecture
4. Performing
arts
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
7. Food and drink 8. Living culture:
the details of
