Spain, (1598-1664)
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St. Anthony Abbot
- (c. 1630’s), oil on canvas
- Palazzo Pitti, Galleria Palatina; Florence, Italy
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Editor’s Note:
Unfortunately, St. Anthony’s companion pig, peeking out from behind his right foot, is very dark and difficult to see clearly. He really is there, and this b/w close up below is my best attempt to make the pig a bit more visible.
About the Artist
Francisco de Zurbarán, Spanish, (1598-1664). Zurbarán was a baroque painter, active mainly at the Spanish towns of Llerena, Madrid, and Seville. He devoted himself almost entirely to religious works, painting altarpieces or devotional objects that often hung on both sides of a central painting or altar.
Zurbarán wasemployed by churches, monasteries and ecclesiastical patrons over a wide area of southern Spain. The most characteristic of his works are the single figures of monks and saints in meditation or prayer, most of which seem to have been executed in the 1630s. The figures are richly detailed and usually depicted against a plain background, standing out with massive physical presence.