The Louvre exhibits the sculptural force of the Spanish painter Francisco de Zurbarán

The Louvre Museum exhibits a series of great works by the master Zurbarán starting this Wednesday, one of the most important Spanish painters of the seventeenth century, who highlights his mastery of light and volume. Stunning Christ on the Crosses, graceful immaculate virgins, martyrs, and other religious scenes populate this exhibition on Francisco de Zurbarán (1598-1664), open to the public until January 25th. ADVERTISEMENT In total, 65 works, most by the Extremaduran painter, reveal his ability to create “very striking, very intense images, very powerful compositions, with plays of light in chiaroscuro” which earned him the nickname Spanish Caravaggio, explains Charlotte Chastel-Rousseau, chief curator of the museum's Painting department and curator of the exhibition. Christ on the cross, one of the canvases that open the exhibition, conveys “the sculptural force of Zurbarán's painting [...] his ability to paint bodies in volume, with great depuration, great simplification,” explains the expert. In fact, she recounts that the faithful who saw this painting of a crucified Christ with a white cloth around the waist on a dark background did not know whether it was a painting or a sculpture. ADVERTISEMENT The precision in the details, such as in the folds of the fabrics, the faces, or the jewels, is another characteristic of Zurbarán, one of the most important Spanish artists of the seventeenth century alongside Velázquez and Murillo. “Zurbarán gives verisimilitude to his painting with the will to confer truth upon his work,” says Chastel-Rousseau. In El Borreguillo, loaned by the Prado Museum, a lamb with tied legs rests on a gray table. The painter's meticulous technique for reproducing textures provides this small-format work with an authentic appearance of reality. The numerous works of the Spanish master are very scattered and, to put this exhibition forward, the collaboration of the National Gallery of London and the Art Institute of Chicago, together with the Prado Museum of Madrid, was necessary. ADVERTISEMENT The exhibition was in England a few months ago and will travel to the United States in February. In Paris, the exhibition is organized in parallel with an exhibition on polychrome religious sculptures from the National Museum of Sculpture of Valladolid, to give a more global image of Spanish artistic creation of the time. Both events are part of a cycle that organizes the Parisian pinacoteca on Spanish art, which includes a film presented by actress Rossy de Palma, flamenco with Israel Galván and music with the Asturian singer Rodrigo Cuevas. Source: AP. Photo: EFE/ Edgar Sapiña Manchado. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT