1598-1664 Spanish Francisco de Zurbaran Galleries Spanish baroque painter, active mainly at Llerena, Madrid, and Seville. He worked mostly for ecclesiastical patrons. His early paintings, including Crucifixion (1627; Art Inst., Chicago), St. Michael (Metropolitan Mus.), and St. Francis (City Art Museum, St. Louis), often suggest the austere simplicity of wooden sculpture. The figures, placed close to the picture surface, are strongly modeled in dramatic light against dark backgrounds, indicating the influence of Caravaggio. They were clearly painted as altarpieces or devotional objects. In the 1630s the realistic style seen in his famous Apotheosis of St. Thomas Aquinas (1631; Seville) yields to a more mystical expression in works such as the Adoration of the Shepherds (1638; Grenoble); in this decade he was influenced by Ribera figural types and rapid brushwork. While in Seville, Zurbur??n was clearly influenced by Velazquez. After c.1640 the simple power of Zurbaran work lessened as Murillo influence on his painting increased (e.g., Virgin and Child with St. John, Fine Arts Gall., San Diego, Calif.). There are works by Zurbar??n in the Hispanic Society of America, New York City; the National Gallery, Washington, D.C.; and the Philadelphia Museum of Art..  Related Paintings of Francisco de Zurbaran :. | La circuncision | st, dominic | st, apolonia | The Death of St. Bonaventure | the shepherds, worship |
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august jerdorff

MUR, Ramon de
Catalan painter active in first half of 14th century in Tarragona
Francesco Fracanzano
Italian , b. Monopoli 1612-d.1656 Naples Naples.Brother of Cesare Francanzano. He moved to Naples in 1622 with Cesare and like him entered Ribera's workshop. In 1632 he married Salvator Rosa's sister Giovanna. His early style remains obscure. Bologna (1958) attributed a group of paintings to him that show half-length figures against a predominantly dark background, painted in deep colours with loaded brushstrokes. These pictures, among them two versions of the Prodigal Son.