A History of European Art

Lecture 36: Baroque Painting in Spain

seems insubstantial, except the strong colors of Christ’s robes of rose and

blue and the angel’s yellow-gold cloak; together, those create a strong

downward and inward diagonal push. Otherwise, the space in the painting is

discontinuous, visionary.

Our next artist from this period in Spain is Francisco de Zurbarán

(1598–1664); we see his St. Serapion (1628). Born in the rugged territory

of Extramadura, Zurbarán’s training and much of his career took place in

Seville, but his commissions came largely from monasteries and churches

in southwestern Spain. These frequently isolated communities reinforced

his taste for strongly conceived single ¿ gures of saints and equally direct

narrative scenes. His concentration became a visual synonym for meditation.

The subject of this painting, Serapion, was born in Scotland in 1178 and

accompanied his father on the Third

Crusade. He joined the Mercedarian

order, and around 1240, he was martyred

in Algiers for preaching and converting

Muslims to Christianity.

Serapion was over 60 when he was

martyred, and his death was violent and

cruel. Zurbarán imagines him as a much

younger man and presents him quietly

tied to a tree. The painting was made for

a Mercedarian monastery in Seville, and it hung in the sala de profundis,

a room used to hold the bodies of deceased monks before burial. The

intent and effect of this starkly immediate image in such a setting is easy

to comprehend. The quiet acceptance of death in Zurbarán’s picture recalls

the words of St. Theresa, “All things pass, God never changes.” Zurbarán’s

knowledge of Caravaggio’s style is obvious, and the intensity of light-dark

contrast, together with the solid volume of the saint’s body, makes the scene

illusionistically compelling.

Another artist living and working in Seville was Esteban Murillo (1617–

1682); we see his The Return of the Prodigal Son (1667–1670). In this

depiction, we see the prodigal son after his dissolute wanderings; he kneels in

front of his father in repentance. This painting is like Rembrandt’s depiction

Today, we are fascinated

by the reÀ ection in

the mirror and by

the philosophical

implications of different

levels of reality.