Part 12 (2/2)
painted for the Church of St Jeroa wrote Coello's epitaph, and called his pictures
”Eternal scenes of history divine, Wherein for aye his memory shall shi+ne”
JUAN FERNANDEZ NAVARRETE (1526-1579), called El Mudo, because deaf and du painter He was not born a e, and could not learn to speak He studied some years in Italy, and was in the school of titian In 1568 he was appointed painter to Philip II His principal works were eight pictures for the Escorial, three of which were burned His picture of the ”Nativity” is celebrated for its lights, of which there are three; one is frolory above, and a third froroup of shepherds is the best part of the picture, and when Tibaldi saw the picture he exclaili belli pastori!” and it has since been known as the ”Beautiful Shepherds”
His picture of ”Abrahaels” was placed near the door where the ers The pictures of Navarrete are rare After his death Lope de Vega wrote a lament for him, in which he said,
”No countenance he painted that was dumb”
When the ”Last Supper” painted by titian reached the Escorial, it was found to be too large for the space it was to occupy in the refectory The king ordered it to be cut, which so distressed El Mudo that he offered to copy it in six months, in reduced size, and to forfeit his head if he did not fulfil his prohted if he copied in six months what titian had taken seven years to paint But Philip was resolute, and the picture was cut, to the intense grief of the dumb Navarrete While the painter lived Philip did not fully appreciate hi often declared that his Italian artists could not equal his mute Spaniard
JUAN CARREnO DE MIRANDA (1614-1685) is commonly called Carreno He was of an ancient noble family His earliest works were for the churches and convents of Madrid, and he acquired so good a name that before the death of Philip IV he was appointed one of his court-painters In 1671 the young king Charles gave Carreno the cross of Santiago, and to his office of court-painter added that of Deputy Aposentador He would allow no other artist to paint his likeness unless Carreno consented to it The pictures of Carreno were most excellent, and his character was such as to ood fortune His death was sincerely mourned by all who knew him
It is said that on one occasion he was in a house where a copy of titian's ”St Margaret” hung upon the wall, and those present united in saying that it was abominably done Carreno said: ”It has at least onein art, for I painted it orio Utande, a poor artist, had painted a ”Martyrdom of St Andrew”
for the nuns of Alcala, and deht the price too much, and wished to have Carreno value the work
Utande took the picture to Carreno, and first presenting the great master with a jar of honey, asked him to touch up his St Andrew for him Carreno consented, and, in fact, almost repainted Utande's picture A short time after Carreno was asked to value the St Andrew, but declined Then Herrera valued it at two hundred ducats, which price the nuns paid After Utande received his money he told the whole story, and the picture was then known as ”La Cantarilla de Miel,” or ”the pot of honey”
CLAUDIO COELLO (1635-1693), who, as we have said, has been called the last of the old Spanish masters, was intended by his father for his own profession, that of bronze-casting But Claudio persuaded his father to allow hi, and before the close of his life he became the most famous painter in Madrid He was not only the court-painter, but also the painter to the Cathedral of Toledo and keeper of the royal galleries It was not strange that he should feel that hethe walls of the Escorial, and when this was refused him and Luca Giordano was selected for the work, Coello threw aside his brushes and paints, grew sad, then ill, and died a year later His masterpiece is now in the Escorial; it represents the ”Collocation of the Host” His own portrait painted by hi
The school of Seville was the most important school of Spain It is also known as the school of Andalusia It dates from the middle of the fifteenth century, and its latest uel de Tobar, died in 1758
LUIS DE VARGAS (1502-1568), one of the earliest of the painters of the school of Seville, was a devout and holy man He was accustoes were found hich he had beaten himself, and a coffin in which he had been accustomed to lie and as studied twenty-eight years in Italy His pictures were fine His feood, and the whole effect that of grand simplicity His picture of the ”Temporal Generation of Our Lord” is his best work in Seville Ada is so well painted that the picture has been called ”La Gaas was a witty ive his opinion of a very poor picture of ”Christ on the Cross” Vargas replied: ”He looks as if he were saying, 'Forgive them, Lord, for they know not what they do!'”
PABLO DE CESPEDES (1538-1608) was born at Cordova, and is an important person in the history of his time, for he was a divine, a poet, and a scholar, as well as an architect, sculptor, and painter He was a graduate of the University of Alcala, and excelled in Oriental languages He studied art in Rome, and while there made a head of Seneca in marble, and fitted it to an antique trunk; on account of this work he was called ”Victor il Spagnuolo” Zuccaro was asked to paint a picture for the splendid Cathedral of Cordova; he declined, and said that while Cespedes was in Spain they had no need of Italian artists The pictures of Cespedes which now rement can scarcely be formed of theht to be in his day His ”Last Supper” is in the Cathedral of Cordova In the foreground there are some jars and vases so well painted that visitors praised them Cespedes was so mortified at this that he commanded his servant to rub them out, and only the most judicious admiration for the rest of the picture and earnest entreaty for the preservation of the jars saved thes upon artistic subjects and an essay upon the antiquity of the Cathedral of Cordova He was as modest as he was learned, and was much beloved He was made a canon in the Cathedral of Cordova, and was received with ”full approbation of the Cordovese bishop and chapter”
FRANCISCO PACHECO (1571-1654) was born at Seville He was a writer on art, and is more famous as the master of Velasquez and on account of his books than for his pictures He established a school where younger h art education Pacheco was the first in Spain to properly gild and paint statues and bas-reliefs Some specimens of his work in this specialty still exist in Seville
FRANCISCO DE HERRERA, the elder (1576-1656), was a very original painter
He was born at Seville, and never studied out of Andalusia He had so bad a temper that he drove his children and his pupils away frorave on bronze, and ery was discovered, he took refuge with the Jesuits While in their convent Herrera painted the history of St Herild, one of the patron saints of Seville When Philip IV saw his picture he forgave him his crime, and set him at liberty
FRANCISCO ZURBARAN (1598-1662) was one of the first a Spanish painters He was skilful in the use of colors, and kne to use sober tints and give them a brilliant effect He did not often paint the Madonna His female saints are like portraits of the ladies of his day He was very successful in painting animals, and his pictures of drapery and still-life were exact in their representation of the objects he used for ious pictures, portraits and ani says: ”He studied the Spanish friar, and painted hih a relish as titian painted the Venetian noble, and Vandyck the gentleland”
Zurbaran was appointed painter to Philip IV before he was thirty-five years old He was a great favorite with Philip, who once called Zurbaran ”the painter of the king, and king of painters” Zurbaran's finest works are in the Museum of Seville He left many pictures, and the Louvre claiallery
DIEGO RODRIGUEZ DE SILVA Y VELASQUEZ (1599-1660) was born at Seville, and died at Madrid His parents were of noble fauez de Silva, and histo the custorandfather was a Portuguese, but so poor that he was compelled to leave his own country, and seek his fortune at Seville, and to this circureatest painter Velasquez's father became a lawyer, and lived in comfort, and his reat love of drawing induced his father to place young Velasquez in the school of Herrera, where the pupil acquired so of his free, bold style But Velasquez soon became weary, and entered the school of Francisco Pacheco, an inferior painter, but a learned and polished gentle industry and the study of nature were the surest guides to perfection for an artist Until 1622 he painted pictures from careful studies of common life, and alith thestrictly to form, color, and outline He is said to have kept a peasant lad for a study, and from him executed a variety of heads in every posture and with every possible expression This gave hi the ”Water Carrier of Seville,” now at Apsley House, several pictures of beggars, and the ”Adoration of the Shepherds,” now in the Louvre, where is also a ”Beggar BoyPeasant” holding a flower (Fig 64), and in Munich another ”Beggar Boy” In 1622 his strong desire to see the paintings in the Royal Galleries led hiave hi the friendshi+p of Fonesca, a noted patron of art, and an order to paint a portrait of the poet Gongora, he was unnoticed, and so he returned in a few months to Seville
Subsequently Fonesca interested the minister Olivarez in his behalf This resulted in a letter su Velasquez to court, with an enclosure of fifty ducats for the journey He was attended by his slave, Juan Pareja, a mulatto lad, as his faithful attendant for many years, and who became an excellent painter His former instructor, Pacheco, now his father-in-law, also accompanied him His first work at the capital, naturally, was a portrait of his friend Fonesca, which so pleased the king, Philip IV, that he appointed Velasquez to his service, in which he reave hi was never weary ofpictures of himself
Velasquez also painted roups and singly His life was even and prosperous, and he made steady advances toward perfection He was sent to Italy to study and to visit the galleries and works in all the cities A second ti sent him to Italy to purchase works of art, with orders to buy anything he thought worth having He was everywhere received with consideration and kindness The pope sat to hiliosi; the sculptors Bernini and Algardi; the painters Nicolas Poussin, Pietro da Cortona, Claude and Matteo Prete were his friends and associates Upon his return to Madrid, Velasquez was appointed aposentador-major, with a yearly salary of three thousand ducats, and a key at his girdle to unlock every door in the palace He superintended the cereed in the halls of the Alcazar the bronzes and marbles purchased in Italy; he also cast in bronze the ht froreat picture, ”Las Meninas,” or the ”Maids of Honor,” which represents the royal family, with the artist,hound It is said that when the king saw the picture he declared but one thing anting, and with his own hand significantly painted the cross of Santiago upon the breast of the artist When the courts of France and Spain met on the Isle of Pheasants for the betrothal of the Infanta Maria Teresa to Louis XIV, Velasquez superintended all the cere splendor, for these two courts were at this tiues of the life of Velasquez shortened his days He arrived at Madrid on his return, on June 26th, and froust 6th He was buried with nificent ceremonies in the Church of San Juan His wife survived hirave
[Illustration: FIG 64--LAUGHING PEASANT _Velasquez_]
[Illustration: FIG 65--THE TOPERS _By Velasquez_]