Francisco de Herrera

Home > People > Literature and the Arts > European Art, 1600 to the Present: Biographies

Herrera, Francisco the Elder (b Seville, c.1590; d Madrid, 29 Sept. 1654). Spanish painter and engraver, a representative of the transition from Mannerism to Baroque. He spent most of his career in his native Seville and with his older contemporary Roelas, under whose influence he developed, he helped to prepare the way for the naturalistic style characteristic of the following generation of painters in the city. St Basil Dictating his Rule (c.1639, Louvre, Paris), which is generally considered his masterpiece, shows his work at its most bold and vigorous. In about 1650 Herrera moved to Madrid. According to Palomino, he was a ‘harsh and ill-tempered man’ whose pupils never stayed with him very long. Velázquez is said to have been one of these short-lived pupils, as was his son Francisco Herrera the Younger (bapt. Seville, 28 June 1627; bur. Madrid, 25 Aug. 1685), a painter and architect. After fleeing from home, he evidently spent several years in Italy, although there is no documentary evidence for his visit. He worked for several years in Seville but mainly in Madrid, where he was appointed a royal painter to Charles II (see Habsburg) in 1672 and royal architect in 1677. His greatest achievement was the design (subsequently modified) of the church of El Pilar at Saragossa, begun in 1681. His work as a painter, airy and colourful, owed much to the example of Murillo.

Herrera, Francisco the Elder (c.1590–1654). Spanish painter and engraver, a representative of the transition from Mannerism to Baroque. He spent most of his career in his native Seville and with his older contemporary Roelas, under whose influence he developed, he helped to prepare the way for the naturalistic style characteristic of the following generation of painters in the city. St Basil Dictating his Rule (c.1639, Louvre, Paris), which is generally considered his masterpiece, shows his work at its most bold and vigorous. In about 1650 Herrera moved to Madrid, where he died. According to Palomino, Herrera was a ‘harsh and ill-tempered man’ whose pupils never stayed with him very long. Velázquez is said to have been one of these short-lived pupils, as was his son, Francisco Herrera the Younger (1627–85), a painter and architect. After fleeing from home, he evidently spent several years in Italy, although there is no documentary evidence for his visit. He worked for several years in Seville but mainly in Madrid, where he was appointed a royal painter to Charles II (see Habsburg) in 1672 and royal architect in 1677. His greatest achievement was the design (subsequently modified) of the church of El Pilar at Saragossa, begun in 1681. His work as a painter, airy and colourful, owed much to the example of Murillo.

Francisco de Herrera , c.1576–1656, Spanish painter, engraver, miniaturist, and draftsman. He worked in Seville most of his life, executing religious and genre subjects. His style is broad and dynamic, with powerful accents of light and dark and expressive distortions. Herrera's most famous works are the Triumph of St. Hermengild (Seville) and St. Basil Dictating His Rule (c.1639; Louvre). From 1640 until his death he worked in Madrid. His son, Francisco de Herrera, the younger, 1622–85, studied still-life painting in Naples. Returning to Seville in 1656, he executed religious works. His masterpieces, the Triumph of St. Hermengild (Prado) and the Triumph of St. Francis (Seville Cathedral), both of the 1660s, show his loose and sketchy technique and bright, warm colors. In 1677 he became Charles II's court painter and master of royal works, designing architectural plans, including one, never executed, for the cathedral at Zaragoza.