Juan de Valdés Leal (4 May 1622 – 15 October 1690) was a Spanish painter and etcher of the

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including th ...

era.

Career

Valdés was born in

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsul ...

in 1622. He became a painter, sculptor, and architect. By his twenties, he was studying under

Antonio del Castillo Antonio del Castillo y Saavedra (10 July 1616 – 2 February 1668) was a Spanish Baroque painter, sculptor, and poet. Biography Antonio del Castillo y Saavedra was born at Córdoba, Spain. He trained in painting under his father Agustín d ...

in Córdoba. Among his works are ''History of the Prophet Elias'' for the church of the Carmelites; ''Martyrdom of St. Andrew'' for the church of San Francesco in Córdoba; and ''Triumph of the Cross'' for la Caridad in Seville. He became friends with

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo Bartolomé Esteban Murillo ( , ; late December 1617, baptized January 1, 1618April 3, 1682) was a Spanish Baroque painter. Although he is best known for his religious works, Murillo also produced a considerable number of paintings of contempora ...

, who had a very different style; Leal tended to paint somber and dramatic subjects, while Murillo's style was peaceful and serene. After Leal returned to Seville in 1656, he and Murillo founded the Seville Academy of Art. Several of his paintings treat the subjects of

vanitas A ''vanitas'' (Latin for 'vanity') is a symbolic work of art showing the transience of life, the futility of pleasure, and the certainty of death, often contrasting symbols of wealth and symbols of ephemerality and death. Best-known are ''van ...

, transience and mortality. Two examples are ''

In ictu oculi The phrase ''in ictu oculi'' is a Latin expression meaning "in the blink of an eye". One source is from the Bible, in 1 Corinthians 15:52: "''In momento, in ictu oculi, in novissima tuba''", translated in the KJV as "In a moment, in the twinkli ...

'' ("in the blink of an eye") and '' Finis gloriae mundi'' ("end of the world's glory"), painted for the Charity Hospital in Seville.

Life

He married Isabella Carasquilla in 1647. She was also a painter. He and his wife had five children, several of whom were also artists: Lucas,

Juan ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, ...

Maria Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 *Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, d ...

, and Laura. His daughters specialized in

portrait miniatures A portrait miniature is a miniature portrait painting, usually executed in gouache, watercolor, or enamel. Portrait miniatures developed out of the techniques of the miniatures in illuminated manuscripts, and were popular among 16th-century eli ...

. Valdés died in Seville in 1690. His wife died in Seville as late as 1730. Maria died a nun in the

Cistercian Convent Cistercian nuns are female members of the Cistercian Order, a religious order belonging to the Roman Catholic branch of the Catholic Church. History The first Cistercian monastery for women, Le Tart Abbey, was established at Tart-l'Abbaye in ...

in Seville in 1730.

References

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External links

Juan de Valdés Leal Paintings at Art Renewal CenterScholarly articles
about Juan Valdés Leal both in web an
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@ th
Spanish Old Masters Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Valdes Leal, Juan de 1622 births 1690 deaths Painters from Seville 17th-century Spanish painters Spanish male painters Spanish Baroque painters Male painters Catholic painters Catholic etchers Catholic sculptors

Career

Life

References

Further reading

External links