* Report by art historian and educator , Karla Darocas, Hons. B.A. (KarlaDarocas.com)
* Copyright Karla Darocas 2018* (no part of this text or photographs may be reproduced)
MONASTERY OFFERS A VAST ARRAY OF ARCHITECTURAL WONDERS
IRONY IS IN THE WASH
In this 1871 painting by Seville artist José Jiménez Aranda, a group of women are working on their laundry.
The folksy characters of the washerwomen still conform to the Romantic trend of reporting on the lives of ordinary hard-working citizens, but the narrative now demands more insight into the psychology of the characters and the irony of the situation.
** Report by Karla Ingleton Darocas (KarlaDarocas.com)
ART SAVES SPANISH TOWN AND SURPRISES THE WORLD!
THE MYSTERY OF EL GRECO'S PAINTING OF SAINT SEBASTIAN
In his illustrious career, El Greco painted Saint Sebastian three times. The last of his three portraits from 1610 to 1614 found its way into the Prado Museum - but in two parts. Why?
Report by Karla Darocas, Hons. B. A. (KarlaDarocas.com) for SpainLifestyle.com
EL GRECO'S TINY TRIBUTE TO THE FATHER OF THE SACRED FAMILY
Why is El Greco's painting, the Flight into Egypt, c. 1570, so special? It is only a small oil painting on a prepared pine panel. It is mainly a landscape depiction with the Holy Family as figures in it. It shows El Greco's newly acquired knowledge of the Venetian style of painting, which was popular at the time due to the great Venetian master Titian.
A TRIBUTE TO A VICTORIOUS VALENCIANO - José de Ribera (1591-1652)
When I lived in Xàtiva in 2001, the town where my husband was born, I walked past the statue of José de Ribera every day. Our flat was on the same street as the basilica and the old hospital where my husband was born, and at the other end was the statue of José de Ribera, or Jusepe, as he is called in the Valencian language.
José de Ribera was born in Xàtiva in 1591. His father was Simón Ribera, a shoemaker by trade, and his mother was Margarita Cucó. Although there are many documentary and bibliographical sources describing many aspects of Ribera's life and work, there is nothing about his childhood and youth in Xàtiva.
FAMOUS ANCIENT VALENCIANOS - Peter Paschal
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| Painting by Valencian Master * Jerónimo Jacinto de Espinosa |
Peter Paschal was born in Valencia on the east coast of Spain in 1227. Peter's parents were devout Mozarabites (Iberian Christians) who lived under Muslim rule and paid an annual tax called the jizyah. The Mozarabites and the Muslim Arabs lived side by side and even spoke a similar language, Mozarabic. Let us learn more about this interesting historical era.
THE UNSOLVED MYSTERY OF GOYA'S MISSING SKULL
THE ENIGMA
Dionisio Fierros (1827-1894) was a Spanish Romantic painter who painted a “Vanitas”, an allegorical still life, for the Marquis of San Adrián of Navarre in 1849.
It was not a very robust work of art, especially in an era of great romanticism and drama.
It was a traditional "vanitas" with a skull, which was the most common symbol of the transience of life, the futility of pleasure, and the certainty of death. It was a human skull, depicted in a three-quarter view, and it had no jaw. It rested on a green carpet. The skull had many dental defects. The colour used was a roasted yellow.
It would have been a rather boring 44 x 37 cm oil painting on canvas if it had not had three words written in sepia ink on the back of the wooden frame: "Skull of Goya".
A GENUINE MIRACLE OF NATURE * La Mujer Barbuda by Jusepe de Ribera
Since returning from our fabulous four-day SpainLifestyle Baroque & Renaissance Road Trip, many of my friends and colleagues have asked me what the highlight of the trip was?
While there were many personal highlights, from an artistic and academic perspective, I think it was the painting La Mujer Barbuda by Jusepe de Ribera at the Prado Museum in Madrid, which I finally got to see up close. It had recently been transferred to the Prado from the Museo Fundación Lerma in the Hospital de Tavera in Toledo.
Report by Karla Ingleton Darocas, Hons.B.A. for SpainLifestyle.com
THE ORIGIN OF COCA-COLA IS SPANISH?
Report by Karla Ingleton Darocas (KarlaDarocas.com) (c) SpainLifestyle.com
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THE ENIGMA Dionisio Fierros (1827-1894) was a Spanish Romantic painter who painted a “Vanitas”, an allegorical still life, for the Marquis ... -
The most frequently reproduced motif throughout the history of art, especially in Western art, is the subject of the mother with child. Th... -
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