Francisco de Zurbarán (1598-1644), a Spanish painter in the baroque style, was among the foremost artists of Spain's Golden Century.

Francisco de Zurbarán was born in Fuentes de Cantos, Badajoz Province (Estremadura), and baptized on Nov. 7, 1598. His father was a prosperous shopkeeper of Basque descent. In 1614 Zurbarán was in Seville, apprenticed to a mediocre painter of images, Pedro Díaz de Villanueva. Zurbarán opened a workshop in Llerena in 1617 and married an heiress older than himself. She died after having three children. He contracted a second marriage with a widow in 1623.

During his 11 years in Llerena, Zurbarán's piety was influenced by Spanish Quietism, a religious movement that taught inner withdrawal, the discovery of God in humbly submissive silence, and the use of penitential exercises to subdue the senses and calm the intellect. Although this influence had a...