Sebastián Muñoz (c.1654,
Casarrubios del Monte
Casarrubios del Monte is a municipality located in the province of Toledo, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. According to the 2006 census
A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calcul ...
- 20 March 1690,
Madrid
Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
) was a Spanish
Baroque
The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...
painter.
Life and work
In 1670, he became an apprentice in the workshop of . By January 1680, he had come to Madrid, assisting
Claudio Coello
Claudio Coello (2 March 1642 – 20 April 1693) was a Spanish-Portuguese Baroque painter. Coello is considered the last great Spanish painter of the 17th century.
The son of Faustino Coello, a famous Portuguese sculptor, he was a court painter ...
with decorations to celebrate the arrival of
Marie Louise d'Orléans
Marie Louise d'Orléans (; 26 March 1662 – 12 February 1689) was Queen of Spain from 1679 to 1689 as the first wife of King Charles II. She was born ''petite-fille de France'' as the daughter of Philippe I, Duke of Orléans and Princes ...
, the new wife of King
Charles II. He used the money that he earned from his work with Coello to go to Italy.
Antonio Palomino
Acislo Antonio Palomino de Castro y Velasco (165513 April 1726) was a Spanish painter of the Baroque period, and a writer on art, author of ''El Museo pictórico y escala óptica'', which contains a large amount of important biographical mate ...
, ''El museo pictórico y escala óptica III. El parnaso español pintoresco laureado''. Madrid : Aguilar S.A. de Ediciones. . Later that year, he joined expatriate Spanish painters in petitioning the King to establish a Spanish painting academy in Rome. While there, he apparently studied with
Carlo Maratta
Carlo Maratta or Maratti (18 May 162515 December 1713) was an Italian Baroque painter and Drawing, draughtsman, active principallly in Rome where he was the leading painter in the second half of the 17th century. He was a fresco and canvas painte ...
. On his return to Spain, he stopped in
Zaragoza
Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...
, where he once again served as an assistant to Coello, painting
fresco
Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...
es in the .
Once back in Madrid, in 1686, he worked at the
Royal Alcázar, where he painted the ceiling of the Queen's room with a scene from
Orlando Furioso
''Orlando furioso'' (; ''The Frenzy of Orlando'') is an Italian epic poem by Ludovico Ariosto which has exerted a wide influence on later culture. The earliest version appeared in 1516, although the poem was not published in its complete form ...
. Only a preparatory sketch of his work has survived today.
[Pérez Sánchez, Alfonso E., ''El dibujo español de los siglos de oro'', Madrid, Sala de exposiciones del palacio de bibliotecas y museos, 1980] Elsewhere in the palace, he created a scene from the mythological story of
Psyche
Psyche (''Psyché'' in French) is the Greek term for "soul" ( ψυχή).
Psyche or La Psyché may also refer to:
Psychology
* Psyche (psychology), the totality of the human mind, conscious and unconscious
* ''Psyche'', an 1846 book about the unc ...
and
Cupid
In classical mythology, Cupid ( , meaning "passionate desire") is the god of desire, erotic love, attraction and affection. He is often portrayed as the son of the love goddess Venus and the god of war Mars. He is also known as Amor (Latin: ...
, which earned him an appointment as
court painter
A court painter was an artist who painted for the members of a royal or princely family, sometimes on a fixed salary and on an exclusive basis where the artist was not supposed to undertake other work. Painters were the most common, but the cour ...
. It has since been lost. In 1689, he painted the Queen's funeral for the
Convento del Carmen Calzado. It is said that the monks didn't recognize the Queen portrayed by him, so Muñoz had to place her portrait in a medallion, supported by angels.
At the
Buen Retiro Palace
Buen Retiro Palace (Spanish: ''Palacio del Buen Retiro'') in Madrid was a large palace complex designed by the architect (c. 1590–1660) and built on the orders of Philip IV of Spain as a secondary residence and place of recreation (hence its ...
, he worked on decorations for the private rooms of the new Queen,
Maria Anna of Neuburg
Maria Anna of Neuburg (28 October 1667 – 16 July 1740), was a German princess and member of the Wittelsbach family. In 1689, she became Queen of Spain as the second wife of Charles II of Spain, last Habsburg ruler of the Spanish Empire.
S ...
. At the same time, he began restoring the frescoes in the
cupola
In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, usually dome-like structure on top of a building often crowning a larger roof or dome. Cupolas often serve as a roof lantern to admit light and air or as a lookout.
The word derives, via Ital ...
at the
Basilica of Nuestra Señora de Atocha
The Royal Basilica of Our Lady of Atocha or Real Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Atocha is a large church in central Madrid on Avenida de la Ciudad de Barcelona, 1. It is run by the Dominican order.https://www.esmadrid.com/informacion-turistica ...
. While occupied with the latter project, he slipped and fell to his death from the scaffolding. A monumental canvas depicting the "
Martyrdom of Saint Andrew" was left unfinished at the parish church in his hometown. It was later completed by , who made an effort to preserve Muñoz' style throughout.
References
Further reading
*
External links
Biography@ the
Museo del Prado
The Museo del Prado ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It houses collections of Art of Europe, European art, dating from the 12th century to the early 20th ce ...
Digitalized works@ the Biblioteca Digital Hispánica of the
Biblioteca Nacional de España
The (National Library of Spain) is the national library of Spain. It is the largest public library in the country, and one of the largest in the world. Founded in 1711, it is an autonomous agency attached to the Ministry of Culture since 1 ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Munoz, Sebastian
1650s births
1690 deaths
17th-century Spanish painters
Fresco painters
Deaths from falls
People from the Province of Toledo