Francisco de Zurbarán
1598 (Fuente de Cantos (Espagne)) / 1664
If we are willing to admit the possible permanence of these "defects", it must be said that Zurbarán has the gift of transforming his so-called "incapacities and inaptitudes" into style. Distrustful of overly elaborate compositions that obscure the subject matter, and fond of lining up his figures like pots of earth, in a frieze and in theory, as if on a theatre stage, the Extremecan artist declaims his minimalist forms in the spotlight. For the rest, he is usually content to use 16th-century prints by Dürer, Philippe Galle or Gérard de Jode - just as the treatises of the time advise (and as Velázquez does, even in his famous Surrender of Breda). But far from engaging in vulgar plagiarism, he purified, stiffened, reduced and transcended his models, in order to concentrate all his attention on the nature of things, in their exemplarity, their nakedness, their singularity.
If we are willing to admit the possible permanence of these "defects", it must be said that Zurbarán has the gift of transforming his so-called "incapacities and inaptitudes" into style. Distrustful of overly elaborate compositions that obscure the subject matter, and fond of lining up his figures like pots of earth, in a frieze and in theory, as if on a theatre stage, the Extremecan artist declaims his minimalist forms in the spotlight. For the rest, he is usually content to use 16th-century prints by Dürer, Philippe Galle or Gérard de Jode - just as the treatises of the time advise (and as Velázquez does, even in his famous Surrender of Breda). But far from engaging in vulgar plagiarism, he purified, stiffened, reduced and transcended his models, in order to concentrate all his attention on the nature of things, in their exemplarity, their nakedness, their singularity.
Artist's exhibitions
Paul Valéry et les peintres
25/09/2020 - 10/01/2021
(Sète) Musée Paul Valéry
25/09/2020 - 10/01/2021
(Sète) Musée Paul Valéry
Le Mur. Œuvres de la collection Antoine de Galbert
14/06/2014 - 21/09/2014
(Paris) La Maison Rouge - Fondation Antoine de Galbert
14/06/2014 - 21/09/2014
(Paris) La Maison Rouge - Fondation Antoine de Galbert
Francisco de Zurbarán
29/01/2014 - 25/05/2014
(Lille) Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille
29/01/2014 - 25/05/2014
(Lille) Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille
Le sacré rendu réel : la peinture et la sculpture en Espagne au XVIIe siècle
21/10/2009 - 24/01/2010
(Londres) National Gallery
21/10/2009 - 24/01/2010
(Londres) National Gallery