Alonso Cano

Alonso Cano was painter, sculptor and architect at once, and his paintings have a sculptor’s feel: graceful, rounded figures, calm faces and a restrained, refined colour. His religious pictures are gentler and more elegant than much Spanish Baroque painting.

He was born in Granada in 1601 and trained in Seville, in painting under Francisco Pacheco, Velázquez’s teacher, and in sculpture under Juan Martínez Montañés. He worked in Seville, Madrid and Valencia, served Philip IV and taught the young Prince Balthasar Charles. In 1652 he became a canon of Granada Cathedral, and he designed its façade. He was known for a fierce temper and a troubled life. The Prado, the Real Academia de San Fernando and the Detroit Institute of Arts hold his paintings. He died in Granada in 1667.

In his Immaculate Conception, notice how simple and compact the figure is, almost like a carved statue.