Image: Francisco de Zurbarán, 'The Crucifixion', 1627 The Art Institute of Chicago © The Art Institute of Chicago
Five reasons to visit Zurbarán
Meet Francisco de Zurbarán in the first major exhibition devoted to the artist in the UK
1
Get to know one of Spain’s greatest artists
Francisco de Zurbarán (1598–1664) is one of the great artists of 17th-century Spain. He worked in Seville, then one of Spain’s richest cities, and made artworks for some of the country’s most important people and places.
There has never been a major exhibition devoted to him in the UK. He was working in Spain at the same time as the artists Diego Velázquez and Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, whom he would have known, but his name is less familiar today. This exhibition is a rare chance to get to know Zurbarán through some of his best and most important paintings, which are coming to London from all over the world.
From soaring altarpieces to beautifully detailed still lifes, from early commissions to later works, you can see paintings from across his entire career. Striking portraits of monks, saints and martyrs, images of faith and devotion, shimmering fabrics, fresh fruit and flowers – his paintings, large and small, will fill our exhibition walls.
2
Immerse yourself in the mystery and spirituality of his paintings
Zurbarán became the painter for the many religious orders in the booming city of Seville. If you were one of the hundreds of monks in the city you would probably have seen his paintings, but they weren’t all on public display.
The painting that set him on the path to success was ‘The Crucifixion’ (1627), on loan from the Art Institute Chicago. Part of a commission for the Dominican Order of San Pablo el Real in Seville, it is Zurbarán’s earliest surviving signed and dated work. In its original setting in a dark chapel, lit by candlelight and viewed through a metal grille in the shadows, it looked so real that many people thought it was a sculpture.
As with many of the works that followed, there are no fancy objects or distracting backgrounds in this painting. Like the Italian painter Caravaggio, he uses the contrast between light and dark to great effect. Zurbarán, at 29, had found a way to paint powerful spiritual experiences in a very real and emotionally direct way. The commissions rolled in.
3
Take time to absorb the details of his remarkable still lifes
Zurbarán’s still lifes are among some of the most beautiful ever painted. You can almost smell the citrusy lemons and sweet orange blossom – picked from trees he would have walked under in Seville.
They show how carefully Zurbarán looked at everyday objects like fruit, plates and cups and how skillfully he reproduced them in paint. Through their simplicity and clarity, these pictures appear very modern.
In the exhibition you can see, in the same room for the first time, his ‘Still Life with Lemons, Oranges and a Rose’ (1633), on loan from the Norton Simon Foundation in California, with our Cup of Water and a Rose. They are both intimate paintings with an aura of calm.
Zurbarán’s son Juan, who died aged just 29 in Seville’s plague of 1649, was also a talented still-life painter. His paintings are very rare – less than 20 are known to exist. You can see his Still life with Lemons in a Wicker Basket (about 1643-9) alongside 'Flowers and Fruit in a Bowl' (about 1645) on loan from the Art Institute of Chicago.
Image: Francisco de Zurbarán, 'Still Life with Lemons, Oranges and a Rose', 1633, The Norton Simon Foundation, Pasadena, California © The Norton Simon Foundation
4
Enjoy Zurbarán’s striking use of colour and texture
Through the detail he included in his paintings, Zurbarán made them not only beautiful – but relatable. Stand in front of his painting of ‘Saint Casilda’ (about 1635) in the exhibition and you can almost hear the rustle of silk.
Leather, wool, satin, cloth – Zurbarán could bring any kind of texture to life and had his own individual sense of colour, mixing soft pinks, oranges and browns, not to mention his skillful use of white in the clothes worn by his monastic subjects.
His father was a merchant. Fabrics and thread were among the goods he traded and so Zurbarán may have developed an interest in these materials from a young age. He would also have seen and been influenced by the religious processions through the crowded streets that were a part of everyday life in 17th-century Seville. All of this found its way into his paintings.
Image: Francisco de Zurbarán, 'Saint Casilda', about 1635, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid © Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza
5
Imagine the scale and ingenuity of his altarpieces
How do you paint dreams and visions? Zurbarán had clever and creative ways of handling huge paintings of religious stories – he made invisible, heavenly visions become real in paint and put scenes together in ways that no one had seen before.
At the height of his career, he was juggling commissions for multiple sets of paintings for some of the most influential religious sites in Spain.
For the first time in a century or more, we’re reuniting works from one of these huge commissions – a 15-metre high, three-tier altarpiece, for the Charterhouse of Nuestra Señora de la Defensión in Jerez de la Frontera, about sixty miles south of Seville.
Don’t miss the opportunity to see together the three paintings that we think were originally in the second level of the altarpiece: ‘The Circumcision’ (1639), ‘The Adoration of the Magi’, (about 1638–9) and ‘The Virgin of the Rosary with the Carthusians’ (about 1638–9) – itself a monumental painting over three metres tall.
These are just some of the many reasons to visit the exhibition and see the startling naturalism, directness and deep emotional power of Zurbarán’s remarkable paintings in the flesh. We’re looking forward to sharing them with you in London from May.
