Francisco de Zurbarán, born at Fuente de Cantos in Extremadura, the son of Luis Zurbarán, a haberdasher, and his wife, Isabel Márquez, had as a child set about imitating objects with charcoal.
His father had sent him to Seville in 1614 to apprentice for three years with Pedro Díaz de Villanueva, an artist of whom very little is known.
It is unknown whether Zurbarán had the opportunity to copy the paintings of Michelangelo da Caravaggio; at any rate, he has adopted Caravaggio's realistic use of chiaroscuro.
The painter who may have had the greatest influence on his characteristically severe compositions was Juan Sánchez Cotán.
Polychrome sculpture—which by the time of Zurbarán's apprenticeship had reached a level of sophistication in Seville that surpassed that of the local painters—had provided another important stylistic model for the young artist; the work of Juan Martínez Montañés is especially close to Zurbarán's in spirit.
Zurbarán paints directly from nature, and he makes great use of the lay-figure in the study of draperies, in which he is particularly proficient.
He has a special gift for white draperies; as a consequence, the houses of the white-robed Carthusians are abundant in his paintings.
To these rigid methods, Zurbarán is said to have adhered throughout his career, which is prosperous, wholly confined to Spain, and varied by few incidents beyond those of his daily labor.
His subjects are mostly severe and ascetic religious vigils, the spirit chastising the flesh into subjection, the compositions often reduced to a single figure.
The style is more reserved and chastened than Caravaggio's, the tone of color often quite bluish.
Exceptional effects are attained by the precisely finished foregrounds, massed out largely in light and shade; ...
