Display "Zurbarán (on) natural"



The MNAC, Le Musée des Beaux Arts de Lyon and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston collaborate in this exhibition, which will bring together for the first time the three versions of the vision of Saint Francis of Assisi by Pope Nicolau V, a key work by Francisco de Zurbarán (1598-1664). The absolutely exceptional possibility of confronting the three paintings brings light on each of them. The work preserved by the MNAC has undergone a deep restoration process that has allowed to regain its original appearance and to bring to light details hidden by the passage of time. In the vision of Saint Francis by Pope Nicolau V, Zurbarán reflects a legendary episode according to which the Pope requested to see the mummified body of the saint in the crypt of the Basilica of Assisi. The painter condenses a complex narrative action by focusing on the essential and shows only the subjective view of the pope. Zurbarán has the figure of Saint Francis as a work of art in a museum, working with light, space and geometric construction. Thus it gives him strength and a prodigious presence, making it look like the mummy of the Holy to live his own life. From the contemplation of the real, the images carry us beyond reality, or inside, their soul. This exhibition will also bring together other works by Zurbarán, including the two twin versions, subtly different, of its famous dead nature of Autuells, the Museum of the Prado and the one of the National Museum of Art of Catalonia. In these paintings Zurbarán generates an aesthetic of emptiness, distance and presence, and of silence, where we do not distinguish everyday life of religious mystery. For more information you can consult the website of the exhibition “Zurbarán (about) Natural” Last Update: 01/22/2025



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