Francisco de Zurbarán

Baptized in November 1598, Zurbarán built his career on religious commissions that required neither drama nor sentiment, just presence. He rendered monks, nuns, and martyrs with the kind of chiaroscuro Caravaggio had made famous — figures stepping out of black into light, fabric heavy as stone. The still-lifes carried the same gravity: objects arranged like relics. His son Juan became a painter too, though the father's name carried further. Zurbarán died in August 1664, having spent a lifetime making the sacred feel less celestial and more like something you could touch.