Saint Barbara
Old Master Paintings
Artist | |
---|---|
Culture | Spanish |
Date | second half of the 17th century |
Object type | painting |
Medium, technique | oil on canvas |
Dimensions | 96.5 × 136.5 cm |
Inventory number | 782 |
Collection | Old Master Paintings |
On view | Museum of Fine Arts, First Floor, European Art 1600–1700 and British Painting 1600–1800, Cabinet 7 |
The noble-born Villavicencio was an extraordinary figure in Spanish baroque art. The military was in his blood; his father served as an admiral in the Spanish Armada, and in 1661 he was made a Knight of the Order of Saint John. At the end of his life he also performed duties as a high-ranking diplomat. For him, painting was a pastime, not a means of earning a living. Nevertheless, in 1660, together with Murillo, he was a founding member of the first Academy of Painting in Seville. Although Villavicencio also produced a few paintings on religious themes, the majority of his output consists of genre pieces. In these works, depicting people carrying out a variety of different tasks, he also devoted great attention to the painting of thestill-life details.
Pigler, Andor, Katalog der Galerie Alter Meister, 1-2. Museum der Bildenden Künste, Szépművészeti Múzeum, Budapest. 2, Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 1967, p. 495.
Nyerges, Éva, Spanish Paintings, A Szépművészeti Múzeum gyűjteményei/The Collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, 2008, p. 176-177, no. 81.
This record is subject to revision due to ongoing research.