Some Flemish Sources of Baroque Painting in Spain

Author(s): Martin S. Soria

Source: The Art Bulletin , Dec., 1948, Vol. 30, No. 4 (Dec., 1948), pp. 249-259
Published by: CAA

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3047198

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 SOME FLEMISH SOURCES

OF BAROQUE PAINTING IN SPAIN

MARTIN S. SORIA

ITALIAN artists, particularly Michelangelo, the Ve- No medium found wider distribution and none
netians, and Caravaggio, exerted a strong influence was more effective in spreading pictorial ideas than
on the Baroque painters of Spain. This fact is the print.2 The world center of the printing press was
generally recognized-to the disregard of Flemish Antwerp.' Flemish prints went to all of Spanish-
elements. Yet, as new discoveries are made, it be- speaking America, from Mexico to Bolivia. In the
comes increasingly obvious that among the various sixteenth century Indian and European artists, under
foreign sources, French, German, Portuguese, etc., the guidance of Spanish mendicant friars, covered the
the Flemish may have been as abundant as the Ital- walls of Mexican churches and cloisters with frescoes
ian. This paper will discuss specifically the influence derived from German prints: Schongauer, Diirer,
of Flemish prints on the great Baroque painters of Holbein, and the Wittenberg Bible.4 In the last third
of the century and throughout the seventeenth, colo-
Spain. and
barin, Examples
Murilloused
will by Greco, Vel.zquez, Zur-
be presented.' nial artists copied Flemish engravings. Prints, paint-
The overwhelming impact made by Rubens and ings, and painters from Flanders arrived in large
Van Dyck on the artists of Spain is well known but numbers, not only in Spanish America," but also in
Flemish influence in the peninsula begins long before Spain. Our findings tend to indicate that Spanish Ba-
Rubens. Flanders and Spain, under one crown, were roque painting owes a debt, far larger than has been
closely related. Although politically often at odds,
people in both countries thought along similar lines. 2. The search into the antecedents of Spanish Baroque painting
Much has been said, and often quite correctly, about should help clarify the individual contribution of each artist and
give a truer measure of his greatness. The prints serving as a
the difference in character and national spirit between model were sometimes only a starting point, a first idea, but in
the various European nations. However, the ma- other cases supplied the composition, or the poses of the figures,
terial here presented tends to confirm a larger view or both. The modern notion, applied to contemporary painters as
well as to old masters, that an artist has to be original at all
which emphasizes the basic unity, coherence, and in- costs, appears open to doubt. The number of solutions seems lim-
extricable interrelationship of western European art ited and to some extent every artist stands on the shoulders of his
and culture. Certainly cross influences are at work predecessors. Great modern masters, just as Greco and Velazquez,
try to capture the fresh and young spirit of our time, fusing it
everywhere. The same themes are repeated through- with elements gleaned from older artistic tradition. The art lies
out the Catholic world, but a common heritage and in the life, the intimately personal transformation which the artist
common spiritual preoccupations embrace, in a meas- knows how to impart even to a hackneyed theme. Old treatises on
the art of painting agree on the importance of copying as basic
ure much larger than generally admitted, the Protes- to art instruction. Inspiration in foreign models was a legitimate
tant as well as the Catholic sphere of western Europe practice long after the apprentice had become a master. (See the
and its colonies. The entire western hemisphere was most important study by D. Angulo, Veldzquez cdmo compuso
sus principales cuadros, Seville, 1947, and A. Palomino, El par-
fully a part of the European circle. naso espaniol pintoresco laureado, Madrid, 1724, III, p. 390.
Palomino defends Alonso Cano's use of prints in a significant pas-
i. The reproductions were selected from material found in sage quoted in full by Angulo, op. cit., p. x7. See also F. Pacheco,
September 1947 during a brief period of work at the Cabinet desEl arte de la pintura, Seville, 1649, pp. 159-162).
Estampes, Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris. The writer wishes to 3. See A. J. J. Delen, Histoire de la gravure dans les anciens
thank its Director, M. Jean Adhemar, for his invaluable advice Pays-Bas, Paris, 1934. See also various books published by J.
and his kind aid in making available the treasures under his care.Denuc6 at Antwerp in the last two decades, documenting art ex-
A systematic study of the large European print cabinets would ports from that city to the Spanish-speaking world.
surely multiply the source material for Baroque painting in Spain 4. See M. Toussaint, La pintura en Mexico durante el siglo
XVI, Mexico, 1936; G. A. Kubler, Mexican Architecture of the
and other countries. It is to be hoped that this task will soon be
undertaken by scholars better qualified than the writer, and thatSixteenth Century, New Haven, 1948, 1I, pp. 368, 372-373. Al-
the microfilming of European print rooms, so urgently needed, though Kubler, on the basis of the evidence available today, is
skeptical regarding the widely accepted idea that woodcuts ex-
will make their incredibly rich contents available to students the
world over. This paper was presented in a shorter form during erted a predominant influence on sixteenth-century painting in
the early spring of 1948 at the Museu de Arte Antiga in Lisbon, Mexico, the writer believes that a systematic search will uncover
the Instituto Diego Velizquez in Madrid, the Instituto Amatller increasing proof of the dependence of colonial mural and easel
de Arte Hispinico in Barcelona, and elsewhere. The courtesies ex-
painters on prints.
tended by Dr. Jo6o Couto, Don Francisco Javier Sanchez Cant6n, 5- Several of the most important colonial masters in Mexico
were of Nordic origin: Simon Pereyns and Diego de Borgraf of
and Don Jos6 Gudiol at the three institutions mentioned are grate-
fully acknowledged. Antwerp, and Juan Gerson, perhaps also a Fleming.

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 250 THE ART BULLETIN

acknowledged heretofore, to Flemish

rounding him is greatly strengthened. The ellipse and ar
to art of the Mannerist period.
the parabola so strongly brought into play by El Vel
works, his bodegones, for
Greco are essential traits example,
of his art, as Otto Benesch
kitchen-pieces by has
Aertsen and
shown.10 Benesch explains the ellipseBeuckela
as the for-
in a recent lecture by
mal, structural vehicleNeil MacLaren
of the Mannerist style; that is,
of these Flemish ofkitchen
the art produced duringpaintings
the second half of the six- can
in Spanish collections.
teenth century. The astronomer Kepler introduced it
into his Copernican vision of the world, stating that
II "the circuits of planets are ellipses with two foci in
one of which the sun is located." Tintoretto as well as
We shall see that even El Greco, who spent many
Greco used the ellipse, so suggestive of space, as a
years in Italy learning the art of painting, used Flem-
basic design of his compositions. "Parabolas and hy-
ish prints once he arrived in Spain. While in Italy he
perbolas dynamically and unendingly sweep into the
copied Italian prints.' His adaptation of a woodcut
infinite space." In a study on Sanchez Cotin, who
by Boldrini? for a St. Francis and Companion (in the
was one of the decisive influences on Zurbarin, the
Accademia Carrara at Bergamo) is well known. An-
writer suggested that the parabola, coming from the
other print, invented by Taddeo Zuccaro, engraved
infinite and returning to it, in the vision of many
by Cort and dated 1567, served as model for the
painters of the period linked this world to the next."
Adoration of the Shepherds in the Willumsen Collec-
In Greco's picture a Child God has descended from
tion at Copenhagen, as the owner himself observed.
The reader is invited to see Willumsen's book for re- heaven where he will return. This may sound like
scented oratory but it is submitted that mathematics
productions.9 Being young, the Cretan followed his
played an increasingly important role in El Greco's
model rather faithfully. He repeated precisely the
art and help to date his later paintings. Parabolas,
pose of each figure as it appears in the print, including
hyperbolas, and ellipses are for him the artistic and
the two women looking on from a window: Zelemi,
compositional device by which he succeeded, more
the believer, and Salome, whose hand withered for
and more convincingly, in uniting heaven and earth.
lacking faith. The great artist made, however, signif-
Thirty years later El Greco used another engrav-
icant changes in the composition. Zuccaro had given
ing also executed in Italy, at Venice, but this time by
us a symmetrical, funnel-like arrangement, a typical
a Fleming, Johan Sadeler (Fig. 17). It represents
Mannerist scheme. By omitting several figures and
a Vision of St. Hyacinth.'2 The painting (in the A. C.
shifting one shepherd from left to right, El Greco
Barnes Collection at Merion, Pa.) is listed in the in-
simplified the design and increased its movement.
ventory of Greco's son, Jorge Manuel, and can be
The silhouette of the ox and the ass are stressed, thus
dated on stylistic grounds about 1597. The only other
conforming to Byzantine pattern. At the right, the
version, later and more nervous, also listed in the
arch was replaced by a landscape to emphasize the
inventory, is in the Art Gallery at Rochester, N.Y.
diagonal. Greco's insistence on this Baroque principle We saw that in the case of the Willumsen Adoration
is noteworthy because the work is an early one, painted
El Greco was more interested in copying the compo-
only a few years later than the print. His most im-
nent figures than the composition itself. The Vision of
portant contribution, however, is the concentration of
St. Hyacinth, however, is one of the rare instances
the composition. The Christ Child, radiating light, is
where he took over a design with but little variation.
the center of the theme. The ellipse of the figures sur-
He repeated the kneeling saint at the right, the Vir-
6. Mr. MacLaren based his conclusions on prints. The fact that gin-her outline unchanged-seated on a throne of
a large number of Flemish kitchen paintings, among them a clouds, the two columns with their pedestals, and the
Christ in the House of Mary and Martha, were found by the step at the lower left. To suggest an indoor setting,
writer in Spain, can only bolster the English scholar's contention.
See also A. L. Mayer, "Velazquez und die niederlindischen the clouds of the center background were replaced by
Kiichenstiicke," Kunstchronik und Kunstmarkt, January 3, i9I9, the equally nebulous figure of a bishop in a niche.
pp. 236-237. Aertsen and Beuckelaer, in turn, copied architec- While retaining the basic elements of the composition,
tural details from Serlio's engravings; see Th. H. Lunsingh
Scheurler, "Pieter Aertsen en Joachim Beuckelaer en hun out- the painter changed the style and translated a print of
leeningen van Serlio's architectuurprenten," Oud Holland, LxII, classical breadth into a stimulating, lively creation in
1947, PP. 123-134. his own manner. A dynamic zigzag rhythm passes
7. See R. Pallucchini's masterful and revealing article "Some
Early Works by El Greco," Burlington Magazine, xc, 1948, pp.
130-137, especially p. 133. Pallucchini finds Grecoio.". Otto Benesch, The Art of the Renaissance in Northern Eu-
. . study
rope,
and plagiarize without scruple prints of Parmigianino, Cambridge, Mass., I945, pp. I24-143, especially pp. I3o,
Schiavone,
138, I39. Benesch's brilliant interpretation has not yet found the
Caraglio, Bonasone, Cort, Zuccari, Sadeler, and others."
attention it deserves.
8. Reproduced in J. Willumsen, La Jeunesse du peintre El
ii. M.opposite
Greco, Paris, 1927, II, pl. LIII, and the reproduction S. Soria, Art Quarterly, vIII, 1945, pp. 225-230.
p. 322. 12. For reproductions of the two versions of Greco's St. Hya-
9. See the reproductions and discussion in Willumsen,cinth, at Merion, Pa., and at Rochester, see Legendre, El Greco,
op. cit.,
pl. Lv, and opposite p. 342. Paris, 1937, pls. 362 and 363-

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 BAROQUE PAINTING IN SPAIN 251

upward through the hands and the head

cessories of the much
represented, should be
elongated saint on to the head of the
Wierix's Virgin. The
half-length two of the
print
middle fingers of the Dominican's right
of a sequence handof
Music are
the Sph
joined in a typical, elegantdanus,
gesture. Instead
engraved byof the Galle,
Philip
print's ponderous Christ Child the in the
pose pose
of of of
some anthe
an-angels po
tique sculpture, Greco painted a Mannerist
in Greco's baby
Veneration ofinthe Hol
excited distortion. It is copied, inversely
version and
at the with few
Escorial, the other
variations, from Titian's Madonna and Child
lection, Keir, in an Theoto
Scotland).
Evening Landscape (Pinacotheca, Munich), formerly
half-length versions of the peni
in the Sacristy of the Escorial.
are related not only to Domenico
In the famous Resurrection of the Prado
sentation (in theMuseum
Capitoline Mu
(Fig. I), we may recognize reflections
to engravings of byan A.
engrav-
Collaert. In
Immaculate
ing by Antonie Blocklant, executed Conception
by Philip Galle at (Thys
Antwerp (Fig. 2). The engraving
gano) we findmust have ap-
a rushing angel pe
pealed to Greco for the wild, mannered
a similar onegestures,
at the lefttheof Mart
nervous rhythm of the figures, and the
(Antwerp, contrasted,
1594). In every one o
flickering lighting of the scene.
GrecoIt may
is remarkable,
have borrowedhow- either
ever, that the Greek did notor copy the omega-like
merely the subject pat-
matter.
didalthough
tern of the clouds and figures, not, duringit was his
oneSpanish
of per
his favorite compositional composition.
schemes. Instead he in-
vented a most unstable diamond shape. Thus accen-
III
tuating the dynamic movement of the event, he
Velhzquez's
strengthened the explosive effect sources
of Christ's and metho
appari-
the subject
tion on the soldiers, and accelerated of a recent
his upward brilliant
thrust.
gulo."
Since the height of the canvas wasThe author
greatly furnishes new,
increased,
evidence on the extent to which o
a strong counterweight was needed, furnished by the
enced
fallen soldier drawn in violent the great artist,
foreshortening. Withwho was
broadly extended arms, his body projects out of the and Gr
to Diirer, Michelangelo,
picture plane and balancesa thework of complicated
vertical figure of compositi
eral framework of a
Christ. While Greco changed the composition, he re-foreign mod
lied, as usual, on the printsign
for by
the incorporating motifs
figures. Christ
sources.
ascending to heaven extends his rightAngulo shows,"l
hand, his mantlefor inst
crossing to the left in sharprender of Breda
movement. The(Prado)'5
fallen is der
a French
soldier below raises his right leg and print,
opens as
hishad been known
arms.
by Veronese
A cascade of six legs, kicking and parallel,
and vaguely by Greco. One
can be seen in both print andDutch pictures
painting. whichout-
Adopted Velizquez h
passed during his first
right were the pose of the soldier at the left lifting stay in R
Professor Longhi
his arm, as well as the military equipment strewndiscovered in a
about: a helmet, a sword, andRome a most
a halberd. Theimportant
feet of small
the young man at the left of Velhzquez
the printabout
appear I630. It resem
at the
Pieter Codde,l" and
right of the picture. The foreshortened leg next to is an imme
the Surrender of Breda.
the shield at the lower right of the print is shifted to Angulo
the left foreground of the painting. Incidentally, the
13. See note 2 above.
half-length nude of a helmeted soldier
14. Op. cit., pp.resting his
21, 27-54.
head on his left hand, in the center of great
I5. The the picture, may
battle pictures for the
Buen Retiro
have been a source of Velhzquez's Mars,Palace
whichof Madrid,
surely of which
was only one, are not without vague prec
also reflects Michelangelo's statue
either; of Lorenzo
see Stradanus, de' Familiae R
Mediceae
Medici. Comparisons of other engravings
Victoriae of theFlorence,
et Triumphi, same I583.
series by Blocklant with paintings by Greco supply
16. Pieter Codde's signed Guardsmen, a
Rome, as well as his Guardsmen Scene
additional proof that the print did indeed inspire the
sels, June 27, 1921, no. 49) and similar
Greek painter. or slightly later than Velazquez's Roman
For the Opening of the Fifth
matter, Seal (Zuloaga
because Col-
pictures of this type by
artists must have existed before 1630 a
lection at Zumaya), Greco took the poses of some of
Vel'zquez's picture. Codde, born I599
the nudes from H. Goltzius's Seven
was Days
an exact of Creation
contemporary of Velnizquez
(Antwerp, I589). The St. Jerome (National
by Professor Longhi,Gallery
who, it is hoped,
portant find, the writer
of Scotland, another version in the Hispanic Society was able to
Rome, and is fully convinced that it
of America), in its general pictorial
master. idea and the ac-

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 252 THE ART BULLETIN

design
Tapestry Weavers are is similar
an ingenious (Fig
trans
individual figures most
as well
in as composition
profile, raisin
ture. Before
rived from Michelangelo's him stand
Sistine Ceil
render of Breda, thetheTapestry
men nextWeavers,
to the P
The Spanish paintergr
Ladies, to cite but three of Velizquez's t
give an amazing impression of unity.
a fourth head, To
keeping
familiar with his method
the men of
incomposing
print and
appear to be instantaneous snapshots,
the diagonal sc
of the five
observed, and painted
the on the of
depth spur
theof th
scen
On the contrary, they arethree-dimensi
sion of "synthetic" p
the man worked
slowly and painstakingly standing out
seco
using
Two or three further the position
instances of
of foreig
end of the
be added to the examples tunic hel
discovered b
improvement over the
In 1934 Paul Jamot published,'8 as the
the
for the composition oftwo
the figures.
Surrender The
of
print are recast
woodcut by Bernard Salomon from a bointo
the canvas as second f
Lyon in I553.- It seems to have passe
pose of head, body,
that Velbzquez copied another print fr
peated, with greater c
book for his
Bloody Coat of Joseph (Esc
the background in ba
visible at the left just
I7. This was the notion expounded by Justi and
versally accepted untilhas a pedigree:
Angulo's study. C.in the
Justi,
and His Times, London, of the chair forms par
1889, p. 416, says of th
"Such a grouping as this can have resulted
is completed in the pi only
When the royal couple were giving a sitting to th
in his studio, Princessof the Mannerist
Margaret back
was sent for. .
his raised
there, yielding to his paternal left
feelings arm.
in the mid
circle. Then it occurred to him, being
portance himself
which ha
eleme
something like a pictorial scene had developed bef
mind.
muttered: 'That is a picture.' Angulo
The comm
next moment th
nary ability
see it perpetuated and without to the
more ado replace
pain
Hence the peculiar character
shape ofbutthe composition
entirely d
vention would be inexplicable. . . . In this insta
the artist himself hadstanding the fact
also of course to be that
take
says of the Tapestry and poses,
Weavers: "On it one
is first o
occasio
showing a party of Court Ladies
terested himto theanddoor
wh
aside . . . he noticed certain pictorial motives in t
ing before him, and
given
thus
by
arose
Angulo22
the
furt
Hilanderas.
could not look more accidental or unstudied in an instantaneous in using models of en
photograph." Certainly Velizquez could not ask for greaterattracted by their com
praise, having so well concealed the labor that went into his
When painting the
elaborately prepared composition. Similarly, Beruete, Veldzquez,
London, 1906, p. 113, says of the Court Ladies and the Tapestry ably about I630 at R
Weavers: "Velizquez painted them on the spot after the manner ever under the spell o
of an instantaneous photograph. This innovation in the art of
painting is one of the reasons which nowadays lead us to consider
He may have rememb
Judgment of Solomon
Velizquez as the greatest of innovators. And that is why all artists
dent
who seek the first source of their inspiration in the direct study of parallels to the p
nature look upon him as their leader." Finally, in the same vein,
R. M. Stevenson, Veldzquez, London, 1906, p. I8, writes: "In his
ing (Fig. 5), of about
latest pictures Velizquez seems to owe as little as any man may royal collections at lea
and is now in the Prad
to the example of earlier painters." Jose Ortega y Gasset, Veldsz-
quez, Bern, 1943, PP. 13 and 23, still accepted these theories,
the man at left seen
thoroughly disproved by Angulo's researches, and drew tenuous
seated Jacob's head,
conclusions from them. Ortega's essay contains speculations which
Most important of al
the Velizquez student would not easily endorse. Another brilliant
article by Angulo, "Las Hilanderas," A rchivo espaiol de arte, no.
lumination, soft and
81, 1948, pp. 1-19, further confirms the latter's point of view.
by
Angulo explains hitherto enigmatic portions of the Tapestry all writers on this
Weavers and suggests that the canvas might be a purely mytho- the Forge of Vulcan. F
logical picture realistically treated. This tentative hypothesis has
ment of Solomon an
much to recommend it.
held in mid-air towar
i8. Gazette des Beaux Arts, Series 6, xI, 1934, pp. 122-123.
19. Icones Historicae Veteris et Novi Testamenti, Lyon, I553.
20o. A cut from the Lyon Bible almost certainly inspired Fran-child in strong foreshortening, and the gesticulating angel with
cisco Collantes's signed Hagar and Ishmael with the Angel, in theswirling draperies, all recur in the painting.
Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, R.I. The hand-wring- 21. Op. cit., p. 23.
ing mother seated at the foot of an imposing tree, the sleeping 22. Op. cit., pp. 18, 19.

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 FIc. 3. Bernard Salomon, The Bloody Coat of Jacob. Woodcut

FIc. i. El Greco, The Resurrection. Madrid, Prado

Museum (Archivo Mas)
FIc. 4. Diego Velizquez, The Bloody Coat of Jacob. Escorial (Archivo Mas)

QvONim NON :DRE1ES MEAM IN INFERNO NEC DA

BIS SANCTVM VIDERFE CORRVPTIONE~ . PAL ...lB..Sto

FIc. 2. Antonie Blocklant, The Resurrection. Engrav- FIG. 5. Peter Paul Rubens, The Judgment of Solomon. Madrid, Prado Museum
ing (Archivo Mas)

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 :i?1 i:: -~--~--:i"'~?-i:i-4-:0l

iri~~E W~cj OWr

~I~IL

h.IL' 04

AA

FIG. 6. Theodor Galle, St. Norbert at the Council of FIG. 7. Francisco de Zurbarin, St. Bonaventure's Mediation at the
Fritzlar. Engraving Council of Lyon. Paris, Louvre (Anderson, Rome)

"?'

ui

""'""

i~~~ 'P~4~PdF~ E~y~r~-j:~2~-.

~1 ?3~~

??;:;

-~I_ i,-

"-'r?

_ BI" ~pa??,r~.,,~:r,,l ..,, '~Pf5 ~LI

FIG. 8. Theodor Galle, St. Norbert and St. BernardFic.
before
9. Francisco de Zurbarin, St. Bruno Visiting Pope Urban II. Seville, Prov
Emperor Lothar. Engraving Museum (Anderson, Rome)

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FIc. i o. Schelte a Bolswert, St. Augustine Appearing to Duke Francesco FIc. i i. Schelte a Bolswert, St. Augustine Washing Christ's Feet. En-
Gonzaga. Engraving graving

FIG. 12. Francisco de Zurbarin, The Battle of El Sotillo. FIG. I3. Bartolom6 Esteban Murillo, St. Augustine Washing Christ's
New York, Metropolitan Museum Feet. Minneapolis, Walker Art Center

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 5

vv

- W,

rj

Pem .

Fic. 14. Pieter de Baillin, St. Cecilia. Engraving

FIc. i5. Francisco de Zurbarin, St. Casilda. Madrid, Prado
Museum (Archivo Mas)

M,.-. -M

iA am fougM,

1 .c..c Tvrx POLONVX ,fDOJCIC DOIYPPLVJ/

PRIMAVJN iX"PTANTRIONE FPNDATORh

FIG. 16. Crispin van den Broek,

FIG. Dan. Engraving
17. Johan Sadeler, A Vision of St.

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 BAROQUE PAINTING IN SPAIN 253

receives concentrated light. Together,

ous flesh tones the
of vibrant plasticity. French
Nearly all Span-
print and the Flemish painting
ish painters (Figs. 3 and
of the seventeenth 5) possessed
century clarify pro-
the genesis of the canvas at the
found faith.Escorial.23 We
It was the divine source showed
of Baroque art.
that Velhzquez used prints Beforefrom
touching thethebrush same book
to paint a religious for
picture,
the Coat of Joseph, probably
they were asked painted
to prepare by at Rome
praying, fasting, andin
163o, and for the Surrender ofthemselves.2"
chastising Breda, the latter an-
ticipated in the small picture newly discovered in
Rome and probably painted there alsoIV in 1630. Velhz-
quez thus apparently first saw the French book during
The greatest exponent of mystic realism in Spanish
his trip to Italy, and then and there began to conceive
religious art of the seventeenth century was Zurbaran,
the Surrender of Breda.
who seems to have been inspired by engravings from
His Coronation of the Virgin (Prado) derives from
Antwerp more than any other Spanish master of the
even more diversified sources, as Angulo discovered,2'
period. Angulo published a print by Cort,27 closely
the chief one being a Diirer print which was also used
copied by Zurbaran in a lost painting surviving only
by El Greco. From it Velazquez took the basic trichord
in several shop versions. In 1629, for the famous series
of his design and the elegant curve of the Madonna's
of St. Bonaventure, now dispersed over Europe, Zur-
mantle. A painting by Greco indicated the position
barin consulted a Vita S. Norberti, a life of the patron
and the gesture of Christ and of God Father, and
of Antwerp by van der Sterre, published in that city
Ribera's Magdalen (Academy of San Fernando at
in 1605, with engravings by Theodor Galle. No less
Madrid) suggested the little angels playing among
than seven prints furnished motifs to the Spanish
the ample folds of the Virgin's robe. It seems to the
artist. Zurbaran's picture in the Louvre (Fig. 7), has
writer that a print by Sadeler, dated 1576, after a
been known under various titles, e.g. "St. Bonaven-
drawing by Marten de Vos, inspired the head and the
bust of God Father as well as the massed folds of ture Presiding a Chapter of the Franciscan Order,"
notwithstanding the fact that no Franciscans can be
Christ's cloak falling vertically to his feet. In the
seen. Another interpretation was "The Reception of
broad and gentle mood of Marten de Vos's design
the Ambassadors of Emperor Paleologue," although
according so well with Velhzquez's own, one may per-
ceive a closer spiritual harmony to the Prado Coro-the ambassadors also remain invisible. Some twenty
years ago Father Beda Kleinschmidt28 suggested that
nation than offered by either Diirer's, Greco's, or Ri-
the canvas represents "St. Bonaventure's Mediation
bera's work. All four sources together, perhaps in
at the Council of Lyon in 1274." This solution to the
combination with others not yet found, explain the
problem has found little acceptance, but the engraving
extent to which the design and poses of Velhzquez's
from the Vita S. Norberti (Fig. 6) proves it to be
picture are derivative. In his masterful blending of
correct. The companion piece of the painting, also at
divergent elements, the artist created something
the Louvre, represents the death of the saint, which
greater than its parts. From old melodies he com-
took place at Lyon a few months after the Council.
posed a new, deep harmony. Set in warm blues and
clarets sounding in unison, is the chaste and tender Confronted with the task of painting a Council, Zur-
saintliness of the Virgin. Who, in front of this mov-barin chose a corresponding scene from the Life of
St. Norbert: St. Norbert at the Council of Fritzlar.
ing picture, can accuse Velhzquez of lacking genuine
religious feeling? That his faith was deeply rootedThe canvas was labeled "Council" already in the in-
and sincere,25 is proved also by the small, signedventory of 18Io of the Alcazar of Seville just before
Crucifixion which recently entered the Prado. Au-being carried off by Marshal Soult.2"
Zurbarin painted St. Bonaventure as a cardinal
thentic, I believe, beyond any doubt, it stirs us by the
seated at the right, and before him a tall cleric, with
sorrowful humanity of the dying Saviour. Against a
right hand raised, replaces the St. Norbert of the
wide and melancholy landscape of mysterious, inky
blues, recalling the mood of late Titians, Velhzquez
26. See V. Carducho, Didlogos de la pintura, Madrid, 1633,
modeled the pain-racked body of Christ in pale, sensu-
Index, under the heading "C6mo se ha de disponer un Pintor para
pintar Imaigenes sagradas," refers to p. 7 where Carducho says
23. Angulo, op. cit., pp 78-80, published examples by Diirerthat, before painting religious pictures, a painter prepares "alma
and El Greco as models for Velazquez's Bloody Coat. Greco's pic-y cuerpo con oraciones, disciplinas y ayunas . .. bien debidas pre-
tures were always in the artist's mind, and particularly at thisvenciones para tan sagrado empleo." See also Pacheco, op. cit.,
time, as Angulo has shown that the coeval Forge of Vulcan de-pp. 131, 139-141, 144.
rives its composition and some of the poses from Greco's St. Mau-
rice.
27. Archivo espanol de arte y arqueologia, viI, i93i, pp. 65-67.
28. P. Beda Kleinschmidt OFM, "Das Leben des Hi. Buena-
24. Op. cit., pp. 81-83. ventura in einem Gemaeldezyklus von Francisco Herrera dem
25. Justi, op. cit., alleged that Velazquez was indifferent towardAelteren und Francisco Zurbaran," Archivum Franciscanum His-
religious subjects. Modern scholars discount this view; see F. J.toricum, xIx, 1926, pp. 3-16, esp. p. 12.
Sanchez Cant6n, La Espiritualidad de Veldzquez, Oviedo, 943~; 29. See M. G6mez Imaz, Inventario de los cuadros sustraidos por
E. Lafuente Ferrari, Veldzquez, London, 19445 and M. S. Soria, el Gobierno intruso en Sevilla (aio i8io), 2nd ed., Seville, 1917,
Art Bulletin, XXVII, 1945, p. 215, reviewing the last named book. p. 127, no. 69.

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 254 THE ART BULLETIN

engraving. Another ecclesiastic,

cumbent figure. The two windows, in the centerhalf
and s
back, theis seated
at the leftright, both
of the picture, recall at
the light areasin
of the prin
lifting his left hand
mirror and the as if
shutter in theabout to spe
engraving. These com-
grouped the heads tightly
positional elements are utilized fortogether
an entirely differ- i
would be monotonous
ent story. had he not given
appearance of an individual portrait.
Another even more amazing substitution is that of
from the print thea deadhead of
column for a live the
Emperor. For his archbish
Visit of St.
lium, in the center,Bruno
and to Pope
theUrban (Fig. 9), Zurbaran took
profile at asthe e
In the background, modelthe the Visit of St. Norbert to Emperor
opening of Lotharan ar
(Fig. 8). The composition
the same place in print and of two seated figures in the
painting. Com
foreground and a heavy solid
representations, Zurbarin's between them strikes
work in the
more impressive middleground
and dramatic. pleased the artist, but, since the HisEm- pow
peror does not enter into
tecture is almost modern in the life of St. Bruno,
its the
simplici
geometric lines. Itpainter
operates
omitted him and replaced in himunison
by a stout col- wi
monumental figures,umn. Zurbarin, just as Velazquez, in
painted was more inter-
deep an
Another page from the
ested in details Life
of composition of
than in the St. No
narrative.
trates the FindingIs further
of proof the Relics
needed that the artist reliedofupon theSt. G
Life of St. Norbert? The
logne. St. Gereon appears tocanvas,the
from the Carthusian
kneelin
and informs him of convent of Our Lady
the of the Caves nearof
location Seville,his t
painted about 1633, is in the
many centuries. Zurbarin, in Museum
the at Seville. A
pictur
Dresden,30 shows saintly
St.numen emanates from St. Bruno, a haloasked
Bonaventure of
nals to designate a successor
sanctity which communicates itself toto the the
spectator. Inlate
this picture
He humbly kneels in prayer, askingthere is no outward action. All that hap- for
ance, and the angelpens lies within the individual.
points to Meditating
the quietly, absent
who is to be chosenonly living for his inner The
Pope. vision, the saint seems to be
painter re
touched by divine grace.
the general composition: the The artist has painted some-
kneeling sain
the steps, and the thingcrowd before
very Baroque and difficult some
to convey-silence.
Or, in Lafuente's words,
background. Restricting the "Man in the presence of
story to
God."
deepening the chiaroscuro, painting h
large, sweeping shapes, the
Kehrer found that artist
for another painting of the has
same tr
conventional printCarthusian into series,
a the Virgin of Mercy
scene of (also silent,
in the
spection. We feel the Seville Museum),
saintly Zurbarin had used an engraving
surrender
ture to the will of God. by Schelte a Bolswert, a pupil of Rubens.33 It forms
The Last Communion of St. Bonaventure (in the part of a Life of St. Augustine, published by Schelte
Palazzo Bianco at Genoa)" probably does not belong at Antwerp in 1624. Zurbaran copied the angels hold-
to the series of four pictures done by Zurbarin for the ing up the mantle. In place of the dying saint he
church of San Buenaventura at Seville. It is different painted the Virgin, and humble Carthusians instead
in size, and its style and execution, perhaps with the of high ecclesiastics. Zurbarin's pristine imagination,
exception of the well-drawn head of a figure in the his intensity, his simplicity, and his plastic organiza-
left foreground, can surely not be credited to the mas- tion have raised the painting to an ethical level far
ter but rather to an unknown member of his shop. It above that of the print. Four colors ring forth in pur-
seems to be later in date than the St. Bonaventure est harmony: the pink of the Virgin's gown, the light
series, as the figures are spaced more widely and three- blue of the mantle, against the warm orange of the
dimensional depth is more strongly emphasized. Paul background, and the cool whites of the monks-"une
Guinard discusses thoroughly the difficulties standing symphonie en blanc majeur," in one of the many
in the way of the alleged provenance from San Buena- felicitous phrases of Paul Guinard. Chaste flowers, so
ventura, and suggests that the canvas may possibly be tender one is afraid of breaking them, so fresh one
from the church of San Francisco at Seville.3" The can smell their fragrance, lie at the Virgin's feet. The
author of the picture also used a scene from the Life highly imaginative shape of her gown is of extraordi-
of St. Norbert, substituting without hesitation the nary power. Rising from a broad base, with folds
dying saint for the mother of St. Norbert on her bedascending like organ pipes, the movement expands
of confinement. He borrowed the position of the bed, through the protectively extended arms, rests briefly
the curtains, and the heavenly ray falling on the re- in the finely modeled, small head of the Virgin, and
swings victoriously upward along the winglike edges
30. Reproduced in H. Kehrer, Zurbarain, Munich, 1918, pl. 15.
31. Reproduced by P. Guinard, Archivo espaziol de arte, 1946, 33. See Zeitschrift fiir bildende Kunst, Iv, 1920/21, pp. 248-
no. 76, p. 268. 252, for a reproduction of Schelte's engraving as well as of the
32. See P. Guinard, op. cit. painting by Zurbaran.

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 BAROQUE PAINTING IN SPAIN 255

tache and,
of her huge mantle. The metallic reversed of
amplitude in position,
the is
shoulder.by Jacopo della
forms reminds one of sculpture
Quercia, the plastic greatness calls to mind Michelan-
gelo. The kneeling figures, in
Murillo,
enced white
Zurbar.n's
(in a painting contemporary,
in the
of
was alsoatinflu-
Walker Art Center
many shades,
Minneapolis) by aA
project from the dark background. print from Schelte a rhythm
musical Bolswert's
Life of St. Augustine
wings along the clear-cut folds of their (Fig. I ). Murillo
robes. solved the
Each
same problem
monk is clearly separated from histhat had faced Zurbarin: Space
brethren. the conver- in
sion of a horizontal
three-dimensional depth is most scene into a vertical one.
successfully The pic-
organ-
ture (Fig. 13) was
ized. This picture is a masterpiece. Itpainted
shows about 1655,
howfor themuch
Nuns
Zurbarin had learned sinceof he San Leandro, Seville, and once
painted theformedsequence
part of the
of St. Bonaventure. We may Standish Bequest to the
recall King Louis Philippe, exhibited
tight group-
at the Louvre
ing of figures in the Council of Lyon, of from 1841 to 1848. At this early stage and
1629,
of his career, Murillo
the small degree of spatial clarity in the adhered Apotheosis
closely to the original of
St. Thomas Aquinas (Seville), dated
model. His painting 1631.a certain
suggests, furthermore, If we
consider the progress in draftsmanship
connection between his art and that and brush-
of Zurbarmn, who
work made since, we cannot maydate
have lent the
Bolswert'spictures
book to the youngerfor painter. the
Carthuse of Seville before It1633.
is unlikely that a formal master-pupil relationship
Less obvious are Zurbarin's existed between the two but it is
borrowings certain thatan-
from the in-
other engraving by Schelte fluence
ofof the Zurbarinsameis the decisive factor in St.
series: the early
art of the Sevillian.
Augustine Appearing to Francesco Gonzaga,This is amply proved by
Duke of Murillo's
Mantua (Fig. Io). The subjectfirst works:
of the the St. painting
Lauterio (Fitzwilliam (Fig.Museum,
12), from the Carthuse of Cambridge),
Jerezthe andMadonna now (Museum, in Seville),
the Na-
tivity (Ringling
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, had long Museum, Sarasota, Fla.), the St.
been misunderstood. It represents the Battle of El Ma-
Agnes (formerly owned by the Duke of Bejar,
drid),3 through
Sotillo, won for the Christians and by the Double the Trinity (formerly Heine-
interces-
mann Gallery, Munich,
sion of Our Lady of the Defense.34 The now Virgin in a private collection at
look-
ing down from her throne Stockholm),
of clouds which, replaces
incidentally, copies the partSt.
of an en-
Augustine of the engraving. graved Adoration of the
Zurbaran tookShepherdsover by A.the Bloemaert.
dark diagonal of the repoussoir Murillo's painting
group at Minneapolis
and of (Fig. the
13) repre-
sents the
ridge at the left, set against Vision of Christbackground.
a lighter by St. Augustine, a scene
Similar in both scenes is an often depicted in the battle
equestrian seventeenth in century,
a dis-although
the Bollandists considered
tance at the right, and the distribution of thealternating
story to be apocryphal.
Thelandscape
light and shade. Above the saint is said to have
we cared
seefor the poorest pil-
a nar-
grims passing
row zone of shadow, and, toward by the
the monastery
top, the where he lived. One
vision
day, ministering to a traveler
bathed in light. The horse at the left is replaced by even more wretched
a
than usual, he kissed
disproportionally large halberdier. Above him ap- his feet in an ecstasy of love and
humility. heads
pear, just as in the print, profile The pilgrim, ofJesus Christ, made
soldiers himself
and
a battery of lances. The two known and told
riders the saint: "Magne
nearest thepaterpike-Agustine,
man are faithfully copied from the two heads above re-
tibi commendo ecclesiam meam." Murillo fondly
peated even the detail of the shoes on the ground. But
the horse, which is also used in the painting. The rider
whereas Schelte, with Nordic romanticism, had pre-
with baldric, lance, and shield, galloping in a diag-
sented a delightful forest of shady leaves and gnarled
onal away from the spectator, is bodily lifted from
trees, exaggerating the idyllic aspect of hermit life,
the print. Such equestrian figures, however, are not
Murillo, a good Spaniard, accentuated the ecclesiastic
Bolswert's invention but derive from engravings by
hierarchy, the Church itself, the mitre, the crozier.36
Antonio Tempesta. The battle scene, as a whole, re-
calls prints by the Italian engraver. The
35. This picture had for somemost
fifty years ingen-
or more been known
ious section of the canvas,as and
a Zurbaran.the one
The writer which
doubted this most
attribution and believed

clearly bespeaks the strong itandpossibly to be a work by Alonso Cano (see Gazette des Beaux
virile spirit of Zur-
Arts, 1944, P. 168). Now that he has seen the picture and the
barrin's art, is the dark half-length of mentioned,
other works by Murillo a soldier it seems at the
clear that the St.
Agnes is by Murillo,
right. Standing behind the kneeling Duke, he can alsoand one of his finest early works. It was
painted very much under the spell of Zurbarain but already shows
be found in the print, where he sports a large mous-
an elegance and enveloping breadth characteristic of the master
of the Kitchen of St. Clare.
34. See H. B. Wehle, "A Painting by Zurbarin," Bulletin, 36. Links between other works by Murillo and prints exist: the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1920, pp. 242-2453 idem, Cata- Prodigal Son series, Sir Alfred Beit Collection, London, should
logue of Italian, Spanish, and Byzantine Paintings, Metropolitanbe compared to the sequence by Sadeler of this subject; the famous
Museum of Art, New York, 1940, p. 235; and M. S. Soria, Niilos de la Concha, at the Prado Museum, are related to paint-
"Francisco de Zurbarain, A Study of his Style," Gazette des Beaux ings of this theme by other artists, one later engraved by B. Gaul-
Arts, Series 6, xxv, 1944, P. 154. tier, Paris, about 168o; and the St. Francis Xavier, at the Wads-

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 256 THE ART BULLETIN

Returning to Zurbarin:
sesses a magnificent likeness of among
a mid-sixteenth-cen- his m
works are the series of
tury Lady of Brescia, withVirgin
the accessories of St. Mar-Marty
garet, by Savoldo.the
raises many problems, In the Descalzas
first Reales at Madrid
being t
are several portraits of
tion. Having personally small Polish princesses,all
studied of but
about 160o,
the writer believes represented as
that thesaints.40 These and similar
majority w
portraits are clearly characterized
by assistants, sometimes based as likenesses
on of ac-design
or corrected by him during
tual people who execution.
are depicted dressed according to the
be the case with the ten
fashion of their time, the saints
saintly attributes being from
al- th
la Sangre, now at most the
an afterthought.Museum
Is this true also in the case of of Sev
St. Marina and St.Zurbarin?
A Is it true, as claimed
gnes are by the Prado
the Cata- most
have been touched logueby Zurbarin's
of 1945, that his santas are shown in dresses own b
master himself are, in
worn by noble ladiesmy
of the epoch?opinion,
Or did he at least les
pictures: St. Margaret (National
invent the rich and startling garments clothing them? Gall
St. Apollonia (Louvre), St.
It would be difficult, if not impossible, Casilda
to prove that
Elizabeth (Van Horne
such attire was fashionableCollection,
at that time in Spain (1630- M
Rufina (Hispanic1650), Society
or anywhere else, for thatof America
matter. The writer
St. Catherine, and the
has never companion
seen a portrait of a Spanish seventeenth- pict
identified saint century
(Museum,lady wearing a similar costume.Bilbao),
Such dresses St
St. Euphemia (bothdo, however, Palazzo Bianco,
occur in many sixteenth-century paint- G
last painting an assistant may
ings and prints of western Europe. have coll
Flemish engrav-
ings by Marten
ticularly in the face, sincede Vos, Heemskerck,
the and half-leng
others,
the collection of showDr. Jimenez
Jewish worthies, Diaz, M
men and women, in similar
to be better. The St.
elaborate dresses ofAgatha
oriental splendor.41 Even at(Montp
the
the writer once thought to be
beginning of the seventeenth century,entirely
saints are still a p
thus luxuriously attired. If we compare the engraving
shop,works,
own may be admitted
although intodone
perhaps the circle
partly of
by Zurbar.n's
an as- of St. Cecilia by Pieter de Baillin after Rubens or after
sistant. The writer knows no other Virgin Martyr Schelte a Bolswert (Fig. 14) and the St. Casilda of
which could claim to be by Zurbarin. For instance, a the Prado (Fig. 15), we find a brocaded mantle fall-
St. Lucy (Chartres), which Guinard rightly recog- ing back over the shoulder, borders of precious stones
nized as a companion picture to the Louvre St. Apol- and pearls, and rich jeweled chains. Many similar
lonia," seems far inferior in quality, and largely, if Flemish engravings exist, after Rubens, Schelte, and
not entirely, carried out by the shop. David Teniers the Elder. One is entitled to doubt
The interpretation of these saints poses another whether Zurbarin's Virgin Saints were commissioned
problem. Angulo remarked that they appear to walk portraits.
in a procession or across a stage, like the figures of a If, as we have seen, the costumes were not painted
performing clock." Emilio Orozco Diaz, who has from life, there remains the question of the portrait-
thrown much light on the essence of the Baroque in like quality of the faces. Some of these, e.g. the St.
Spain, speculates that these saints refer to the transi- Margaret at London and the two Saints at Bilbao,
tory quality of life, to the quickly fading glories of have realistic faces, and the painter, in these instances,
this world."3 He believes that the pictures symbolize may have used a model, just as he did in the Beato
the great capacity and subconscious disposition of the Rodriguez and the Mercedarians (Academy of San
Fernando, Madrid), or the eight Carthusian Saints
Spaniards toward the transcendental. However, many
engravings made at Antwerp prove that this way of
(Museum, Cadiz). Most of the other Virgin Saints
seem less realistic, and this very quality in Zurbarin
thinking was not exclusively Spanish. Orozco Diaz is indicative of their saintliness. He was one of the best
quoted Spanish seventeenth-century verse, speaking
portraitists Spain produced. Can we believe that he
of ladies portrayed as saints; he inferred that the
was not capable of characterizing more incisively the
Virgin Saints of Zurbarin were commissioned portraits
heads of specific persons? It seems, furthermore, that
and that they express the very Spanish exaltation of
the St. Elizabeth at Montreal, the St. Rufina at New
the ego, the longing to secure eternity even in this
world. All of us know that such portraits exist not 40. Still another Portrait of a Lady in contemporary fashion
only in Spain. The Capitoline Museum at Rome pos- with the attributes of St. Magdalen, of about 1565, is owned by
the Marquis de Montortal at Valencia, to whom the writer is
obliged for a photograph. See also A Noble Lady as St. Elizabeth
worth Atheneum, Hartford, Conn., shows affinities to a print of (Smith-Barry Collection, London), formerly attributed to Zur-
the subject by Antonie Wierix. barin but apparently Italian, about 1675-
37. Op. cit. 41. The rich dresses of Zurbarin's Saints may be explained by
38. Arte en Amirica y Filipinas, Seville, 1935, no. i, pp. 54-58. a general Baroque tendency toward sumptuous ornamentation.
39. See his latest book, Temas del Barroco, Granada, 1947, par- Rembrandt also liked to paint gold-embroidered dresses and much
ticularly pp. 31-35. gold jewelry.

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 BAROQUE PAINTING IN SPAIN 257

York, and the St. A gatha two atgifted

Montpellier are important
pupils of Zurbarin painted basedlife- on
the same model-a model more ideal than real. The size series of the subject (one near Durham, England,
first two Saints are, by reasons of style, datable aboutthe other at Puebla, Mexico) which are in part de-
1640. In 1639 Zurbarin's second wife died,4'a a severerived from engravings by Heemskerck, of 1559. A
loss, causing a crisis in the artist's life which was re-third, inferior and much damaged series at Lima,
flected in his art. This is the beginning of what may be Peru, also shows the influence of Zurbarin and is
called his solemn manner. From then on, his artbased on Flemish prints.
shows accents of sadness, with elegiac overtones. He Among Zurbarin's most important but also most
painted, at that time, a series of St. Francis, skull inneglected works are ten scenes from the Life of Her-
hand, meditating on death.42 At least for the time be- cules, in the Prado Museum. The series may derive
ing and until new arguments are set forth, one mayin part from the strongly expressionist woodcuts by
suggest that none of Zurbarin's Virgin Martyrs rep-Gabriel Salmon, done at Nancy in 1528, or from en-
resents a lady wishing to be immortalized as a saint,gravings by H. Cook after F. Floris of Antwerp. Per-
although some probably were painted from life haps another, as yet undiscovered, source guided Zur-
models. The Saints done around I640 may be evoca- barin in this instance. Similarly, we may ask whether
tions of his recently deceased wife. In 1644 he mar- any connection exists between a painting of Two
ried for the third time and stopped painting Virgin Angels Adoring a Monstrance," in the Hospice of
Saints altogether. In the same year he executed the Villanueva del Rio Segura (Murcia), attributed to
only female portrait known to the writer, a bust ofZurbar'n, and a print of the same subject by Ralph
Ger6nima Aguilar y Guevara, co-donor of the altar ofSadeler, after Marten de Vos. To conclude the dis-
St. Ildefonse at the parish church of Zafra, Extre-
cussion of Zurbarin, it may be suggested that the
madura."3 Still in situ, it shows Dofia Ger6nima in theseries of Twelve Roman Emperors on Horseback,
typical costume of the time, of blackish taffeta with shipped by the artist to Lima, Peru, in 1647, might
wide lace collar and cuffs, several strands of pearls, have copied a sequence by the Italian printmaker,
and her dark hair arranged in the butterfly fashion of Tempesta. No doubt, like most work sent from the
Velhzquez's Infantas. Although the authenticity of
peninsula to the colonies, this group was largely, if
the portrait has been doubted, the writer considers itnot entirely, executed by the shop. The subject had
and its companion, Dofia Ger6nima's husband, to be also been engraved by Tempesta's teacher, the Flem-
by Zurbarin's own hand, judging by their stylistic ing Stradanus, but Tempesta's prints anticipate Zur-
similarity to the donor portrait in the signed Cruci-barin so closely in the spreading of the narrative in
fixion of 1640 (Lezama Leguizam6n Collection, Bil- profile over the picture plane, and even in the mood,
bao). Together, the two Zafra portraits would furnishthat they look like Zurbarins avant la lettre. The
final proof that Zurbarin's Saints were not meant tomaster would have delighted in their massive energy,
portray earthly ladies. their Baroque elegance, their barbaric, grotesque trap-
Pieter de Jode's engravings of the Twelve Sons of pings, their wonderful expressiveness.
Jacob, of 1575, after Crispin van den Broek, might
serve to buttress the assumption that the costumes of V
Zurbarin's Virgin Saints (and those painted in his
Northern prints influenced other Spanish artists.
shop) derive from Old Testament figures. Dan (Fig.
Although the writer has not attempted to carry his
16) not only anticipates the attire used by Zurbaran,
investigation further, a few examples among those
the cut-out borders and embroidered pearls, but even
found by him may be cited at random. Ribalta's fa-
the gesture of his left hand is Zurbaranesque, and his
mous Angel with Violin Appearing to St. Francis, in
stance offers a striking resemblance to that of the
the Prado Museum, should be compared to Sadeler's
Angels with Incense Burners (Museum, Cadiz). This
engraving after Paolo Piazza (1557-1621). It is not
and other series of the Twelve Sons of Jacob, for in-
clear whether the Valencian knew this print or some
stance one by Johan Sadeler, are interesting because
other of the same subject. Jer6nimo Espinosa and
4Ia. Zurbaran was married three times, not two, as had been Alonso Cano found inspiration in Abraham Bloe-
believed hitherto. His first wife, Maria Paez, whom he married maert, painter and engraver from Catholic Utrecht.
when only eighteen years old, was nine years his senior and the Espinosa adopted one of his two versions of Christ
daughter of a gelder. In 1624 or 1625 he married Beatriz de
Morales, and in 1644 Leonor de Torderas. See Maria Luisa Ca- Carrying the Cross Appearing to St. Ignatius Loyola
turla, "Zurbarin en Llerena," Archivo espafiol de arte, no. 80, (Museum, Valencia), with very slight changes, from
1947, pp. 265-284.
an engraving of this theme by Cornelis Bloemaert. It
42. A similar change took place in the art of Rembrandt, whose
wife also died in 1639. represents a picture done by the latter's father, Abra-
43. See Maria Luisa Caturla, "Conjunto de Zurbarain en
Zafra," ABC, Madrid, April 20th, 1948. The writer wishes to 44. Reproduced as by the master in the Catilogo de la exposi-
thank the distinguished scholar for calling his attention to the c'on de obras de Ziurbardn, Madrid, 1905, no. 39, but actually by
existence of works by Zurbaran at Zafra, thus causing him to visit the shop. Its owner in 1905, Dofia Isabel L6pez, gave it later to
the town and study the pictures. the Hospice where the writer rediscovered it.

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 258 THE ART BULLETIN

ham, for the Jesuit church

van Thulden. at
Many representations the
of the "KneelingHag
Sorely Bleeding Christ
iard, Espinosa conceived theafter the Flagellation" were
scene more
putting the Lord inspired
on by aa print
humanfrom the hand of level.
Rubens's pupil, He
not on a throne ofAbraham van Diepenbeeck.
clouds, but walking
toward the kneeling saint.
One of the most famous colonial paintings at Cuzco,
Peru, Antonio
Zurbarin's pupil, represents the Christ Child
del Refusing His
Castil
special notice because
Mother's Breasthe
for the took
Cross, executedfrom
about 1631 B
by the Indian Diego
compositional elements or Ttito Quispe.4 This picture
poses, but th
ter and particularly the
copies a design style.
by Marten de Vos, engravedHis as late dr
as 1614 by Raphael Sadeler
toral scenes are inspired in at Munich. In the Mu-
theme and
Bloemaert's engraved sequence
seum of Fine Arts, at Boston, is another free of
copy of Pea
His pen studies of heads,
this scene, hands,
hitherto classified and
as Spanish but more
reflections of likely to be
printed Mexican, about 165o. The "Vision
sketchbook of the
sheets b
painter. Castillo adopted Bloemaert's
Cross" as an iconographic theme does not appear to m
an extent that stylistically derive from the Bible, unlesshe owes
it be inspired by Psalm as m
to Zurbarin, his 22, actual
and the writer is teacher. Both
not familiar with any literary
Castillo borrowed source their manner
for it. One of of
the earliest examples of its oc-pain
leaves from the Dutch master. currence in art is Master Bertram's Buxtehude Altar,
In colonial Spanish America, European and nativeat the Kunsthalle in Hamburg, of about 1390. There,
prints were usually copied with great fidelity and few,two angels on foot, with crown, cross, nails, and lance,
if any, changes. Kubler gave a number of examplesvisit Mary and the Child, but as in all other examples
from sixteenth-century Mexico and pointed out that the vision is the Child's alone. At least from the six-
Juan Gerson in 1562, at Tecamachalco, executed "his teenth century onward, the theme occurs in Italy,
medallions in a variety of manners borrowed from theFrance, and Spain. Garofalo (d. 1559) painted a Vir-
Wittenberg Bible derivatives, Holbein's Icones, and gin contemplating the Child while angels descend
Venetian book illustration.""4 Thus one artist varied
from heaven with crown, cross, and nails. The pic-
his style in a single pictorial sequence, according to the
ture, once in the collection of the Kings of France and
source he followed. During the next two centuries
now lost, survives in an engraving by Poilly. Fran-
scores of Flemish prints were faithfully copied in thecesco Albano, in a painting also now lost, formerly at
colonies. It is noteworthy that often a print, not used
the Capuchin Sisters at Bologna, represented the
in Spain, was copied in widely separated areas, in Child tearing himself from the bosom of His mother
Mexico, Ecuador, and in Peru. Were some prints sentto contemplate cross and chalice presented by angels.
to the colonies only? It is more likely that on account
Male states that in the seventeenth century this theme
of their subject matter and style these engravings in-became a favorite."8
terested colonial painters more than peninsular ones.
Finally, there exist fourteen small panels of a Life
Santander's Lord Treading the Winepress (Isaiah,
of St. Rose of Lima, exhibited a few years ago at New
63, 1-3), at Puebla, came from a print by Jerome
York on behalf of the Peruvian Government, which
Wierix. Mr. Pal Kelemen kindly informs the writer
that other versions exist in the Francisco Baum Col- are faithful copies of a series, Vita et Historia S.
Rosae, engraved at Antwerp by the brothers Galle.
lection, at Quito, Ecuador, and in the Prado Collec-
Of all Flemish painters of the sixteenth century,
tion at Lima (from Cuzco). The first example is
Marten de Vos appears to be the most important
signed "A. S.," who, as Mr. Kelemen suggests, might
be Antonio Salas, active about 1760. St. Sebastian,single influence on the artists of Spain and Spanish
writhing at a tree to which two tormentors are bind-America. Not only prints but signed paintings by him
ing him, was nearly always painted in the same fash- survive in both regions where his influence was
equaled
ion in Mexico and in Peru,46 as witness the version by only by that of Rubens during the Baroque.
Jos6 Ibarra, in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It
VI
was copied from an engraving after Jacopo Palma, by
Egidius and Marcus Sadeler. In the Museums of We have seen how Flemish prints, in many ways,
Puebla and Guadalajara, the writer saw versions of St.
helped to shape the physiognomy of Spanish Baroque
Matthew, all very similar because they were derivedpainting, and how they influenced Spanish religious
from an engraving by Pieter de Baillin after Theodor
47. Sola, op. cit., pl. XLIV; and Cossio del Pomar, op. cit., opp.
45. Kubler, Mexican Architecture, op. cit., pp. 368 ff. and 373.
p. 7.
46. A. Velizquez Chavez, Tres siglos de pintura colonial mexi- 48. See V. C. Habicht, Maria, Berlin, 1926, p. 172, fig. 22;
cana, Mexico, 1939, fig. I24; for an example at Cuzco, see M. C. C. Malvasia, Felsina pittrice, ed. 1841, Bologna, II, p. I745
Sola, Historia del arte hispano-americano, Barcelona, 1935, p.E. Male, L'Art religieux apres le concile de Trente, Paris, 1932,
251; also F. Cossio del Pomar, Pintura colonial (Escuela cuz-pp. 329-330; M. Trens, Maria, Iconografia de la Virgen en el
queifa), Cuzco, 1928, frontispiece, and opposite p. 198. arte espaiol, Barcelona, 1946, pp. 201-203.

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 BAROQUE PAINTING IN SPAIN 259

thinking as such, as Angulo prophesied

tent we others.
to take from might We also
seventeen years ago: "If one wants to
Lafuente soknow the has
fittingly na- called "
ture of religious feeling by the vast
These hemajority of aSpan-
defines as sensitivity t
iards in their daily lives, the
andinfluence
aesthetics of foreign
which appear, often
devotional prints must have been
work really
of decisive....
certain artists or perio
Some of those representations which are
omitting forcharacteristic
a moment the power
of the innermost Spanish soul perhaps might
contemporaries, Rubensturnand Ribe
out to be but slight transformations of Dlirer,
affinity to prints from
Michelangelo,
foreign pious books.""4 them seemingly in strong stylist
Each painter borrowed in a Diego's
different
art.manner,
Zurbarin ac-
and his shop
cording to his stature and artistic
gravingstemperament.
after his coevalEl
Rubens, b
Greco copied poses and gestures,
after or merely the Marten
Heemskerck, pic- de V
torial ingredients, but rarely the
and composition,
perhaps which
the wildly excited w
he preferred to invent himself. Velazquez,
Salmon, on the
done more than a hun
other hand, not only took over posespainting
Baroque of figures, but
is usually and ri
a reaction
liked to base himself, whenever possible,against Mannerism a
on a foreign
composition, a fact veiled only
broader,
by hisquieter,
extraordinary
more classical fo
capacity for assimilating thesance. It was also
most divergent a fusion of r
motifs.
Angulo pointed out that Velizquez's imagination
from preceding periods, was includin
guided by an intense feeling for
with the parallelism
specifically ofinnovati
Baroque
forms, of shapes capable of being substituted
An important for one
lesson may be der
another to fit the narrative."5 Zurbarin, like Veliz-
porary art, seeing that nowadays
quez, usually followed a model composition
originality closely.
at all costs. However, t
When a design had caught his
ernfancy, he such
masters, was apt
mentoas Picass
borrow it, even if it concerned an entirely
Henry Moore, different
or Frank Lloyd
story requiring considerable,indebted
and sometimes bizarre,
to art of other periods a
mutations. He often literally
arecopied heads of
well aware and ges-
this fact, but
tures of one or several figures, and partor
Velizquez, ofZurbarin,
the archi- they are
tecture, but painted the rest assimilated
according to his own
foreign in-
influences succ
vention, always succeeding in endowing
achieved his pictures
a personal style in which
with a deeply inspired religious
merge feeling.
with new Murillo, values inspringin
his early works, copied rather faithfully, as did Cano
imagination.
and Espinosa. Castillo gleaned Itfrom
is importantprints, not
that other artists, com-
and particularly
position or poses, but styletheand thousandssubject
of art students matter.
everywhere, realizeThe
that
colonial painters as a rule followed prints,
tradition is a positive when
value, which they
we cannot afford to
used them, quite precisely. discard entirely, and that total originality is a dream
Knowledge of the concrete model
impossible from
of attainment. Neither which a
should artists fall
picture is derived often enables us to understand
into the other extreme of aping the great leaders, it
better. Problems raised by its content may be solved,
slavishly following in their footsteps. They could do
and its meaning and title revealed,
better by choosing as inpath,
a parallel thethat iscase of
to say, by
Zurbarin's Council of Lyon (Fig.
imitating 7).
their methods, not their results.
By finding the model used by a painter, we gain a
MICHIGAN STATE COLLEGE
deeper insight into his creative processes and his ar-
tistic interests, the things he considered important,
those he wished to do himself 51. and
Enriquethose
Lafuente Ferrari,
he was Antecedentes
con- coincidencias e
fluencias del arte de Goya, Madrid, 1947, p. 46. This is one
the most important books on Goya ever written and of indi
49. Archivo espaiol de arte y arqueologia, 1931, p.pensable
66. consultation for any one interested in the work of
50. Velizquez, op. cit., p. 88. Spanish painter.

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