Alonso Cano
(1601 - 1667) |
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Architecture, Sculpture, Altarpieces, Retables Art Work
| Name: |
Alonso Cano |
| Gender: |
Male |
| Place of Birth: |
Granada |
| Nationality: |
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| Birth: |
1601 |
| Death: |
1667 |
| Website: |
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| Past Auctions: |
Click Here |
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Quick Facts
| Known For: |
Architecture, Sculpture, Altarpieces, Retables |
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| Fine Art Profession(s): |
Painter
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Biography
| One of the leading Spanish artists during the first half of the seventeenth century, Cano was a multitalented figure whose contributions in the fields of architecture, sculpture, and the minor arts were considerable. His most significant accomplishments, however, are in the medium of painting, wherein the influence of Italian art (particularly Venetian painting) was absorbed into a distinctly Spanish idiom. A pupil first of his father, the statuary painter Miguel Cano, who was active in Granada, Alonso moved with the family to Seville around 1614 – a move which enabled the young artist to gain further training in Spain's most important artistic center. In 1616 Alonso was sent to Francisco Pacheco's* studio, where Diego Velasquez* was completing his studies. Sources vary as to the length of Cano's stay with Pacheco, some state the training lasted no longer than eight months, while modern scholars affirm four to five years there. Regardless of this question, the importance of Cano's exposure to Velazquez is evident and undisputed. Cano's earliest surviving dated painting, San Francisco de Borja (dated 1624, Seville, Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes), reflects his response to Velazquez as well as to Pacheco. A year later (1625) Cano married Maria de Figueroa (probably a member of the Figueroa painter family active in Seville); she died in 1627, evidently in childbirth. From 1624 on, commissions for altarpieces and retables steadily came Cano's way during his years in Seville, a stay which lasted until January 1638. Much of his energy was spent on sculpture, while few of the paintings from this phase of his career still survive. His most significant accomplishment during this period was the so-called Lebrija retable, a marvelous combination of architecture, painting, and polychrome sculpture executed for the church of Santa Maria in Lebrija between 1629 and 1631. This colossal work reveals his dependence on Italian mannerist traditions, particularly the work of Bolognese and Milanese painters such as Giulio Procaccini* (1574- 1625). Another important work from this period is the now destroyed St. Apxes (signed with Cano's monogram), which shows a strong affinity with Zurbara"n.* In 1626 Cano passed the exams necessary to join the Seville painters' guild, and in 1631 Cano married a second time to Maria Magdalena de Uceda. With her dowry and his commissions, Cano for a while enjoyed considerable prosperity – though like others of his profession, his lack of business acumen produced financial difficulties, culminating in his stay in debtor's prison in 1636. In the year before (1635), he had completed what remains one of his most frequently cited masterpieces: St. John the Evangelist's Vision of the Heavenly Jerusalem, contracted by the convent church of Santa Paula and now in the Wallace Collection, London. This remarkable portrayal of the encounter between an elegant, graceful angel and a rougher, more earthbound St. John reveals Cano's response to Italian sources and represents a distinctive aspect of Sevillan painting from the period. In 1638 Cano was called to court through the intercession of Conde Dugue (Count-Duke) de Olivares, Philip IVs prime minister, and he arrived in Madrid in 1638. He was granted the title of painter and aide de camera for the Count-Duke and began to receive commissions from the king as well. He served as drawing master for Prince Balthasar Carlos. Cano's activities included the restoration of over a hundred paintings damaged during the fire of 1640 at the Buen Retiro Palace. The pictures he restored included numerous Titians and other Venetian masterpieces, which profoundly influenced Cano's style. His response to his experience at court is demonstrated in Christ on the Road to Calvary (Worcester Art Museum), which reveals a particularly strong response to Jusepe de Ribera.* Among Cano's important commissions were the two lateral altars in the transept of the church of La Magdalena at Getafe (1645) and the Miracle of the Well (dated ca. 1646-49, Madrid, Prado). The Miracle shows that Cano cast a more than casual glance at Bernardo Strozzi* and Titian, while the uneven altars for Getafe (the St. Michael, the Annunciation, and the St. Joseph with the Infant Christ) still show a strong preference for Milanese mannerism. Other pictures such as Christ Supported by an Angel (Madrid, Prado) and Noli Me Tangere (Budapest, Szepmiiveszeti Muzeum) reflect his study of Correggio and Rubens.* His Immaculate Conception (Vitoria, Museo Provincial de Alva) is considered one of the finest works from his career in Madrid. Another significant accomplishment is his Christ in Calvary, still in the Church of San Gines in Madrid for which it had been commissioned. The painting shows Christ resting before his crucifixion – a rarely depicted episode from the via cntcis cycle. The scene was perhaps invented by the artist, but it is clearly based on his studies of Titian. In 1643 Cano's patron, the Count-Duke of Olivares, was exiled, and the only known work Cano produced for him, the Crucified Christ, formerly in the church of the Dominican nuns at Loeches, can be ascribed to the Duke's actual patronage. The following year Cano's wife was found dead in her bed with fifteen stab wounds. Cano, though put to torture, was found innocent and he abruptly left Madrid for Valencia, returning in 1645. Two years later he was made mayordomo in the religious confraternity of Madrid artists (an honorary post). The five years between 1647 and 1652, when he departed for Granada, became the most productive in Cano's career. Innumerable works have been dated to this phase of his life, including the Immaculate Conception (Vitoria, Museo Provincial de Alava), a starker, less sentimental adaptation of the type made so popular by Murillo* during the second half of the seventeenth century. In 1651, perhaps out of nostalgia for the city of his birth, Cano applied to become prebendary in the Cathedral of Granada, a position he obtained in 1652. His principal occupation was the start of a series of seven large canvases for the cathedral depicting the life of the Virgin. Most likely the pictures completed during this stay were the Presentation of the Virgin doc. 1652 to 1664, The Annunciation doc. 1652-1656, The Visitation doc. 1652-1656, and The Purification of the Virgin doc. 1656. Preserved in the sanctuary of Granada Cathedral, these show a new reliance on Venetian models notably Titian and Tintoretto's compositions, figure types, and lighting, as well as application of paint. Disagreements with the canons of the cathedral erupted almost immediately and Cano was expelled from the post in 1656.After an appeal to the king he was reinstated in 1658, though his return to Granada was delayed until June 1660. He never returned to Madrid. From 1660 until 1664 he was very active in Granada. His most significant accomplishment was the completion of the series of canvases depicting the life of the Virgin,which he had begun during his first sojourn. After they were installed, he left for Malaga 1665 to 1666, during which time he painted the Madonna of the Rosary Malaga, Cathedral, his last important work. Here, as in his other works, Cano maintained an emotional restraint, In the early part of 1667 Cano returned to Granada, where he was made architect of the cathedral. Soon thereafter he fell ill he died on 3 September 1667. |
Samples of Work
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