Juan fernandez navarrete biography of william

He is believed to have come from a family of wealth and class, perhaps nobility, which would have allowed opportunities in education and travel. His talents were discovered early due to his skills in rapid and vigorous black and white sketches. It has also been suggested that he received further artistic instruction from Gaspar Becerra — Upon discovering his talent, Vicente sent him to Italy, where he visited Rome, Florence, Venice, Milan and Naples to further his artistic career.

Over the following years, his work became increasingly involved with Venetian practices. Lighter and more fluid brushstrokes imbued his background landscapes with an admirable atmosphere and golden skies. In he was recalled to Spain where he was appointed the official court painter to King Philip II of Spain who employed him to work on altarpieces for the Escorial, for which he received a salary of two hundred ducats.

His fame spread throughout Spain, and his talent was celebrated by Lope de Vega —one of the great poets of the Spanish Golden Age. The King ordered it to be cut down to the required size, to which Navarrete was indignant, insisting through sign that he would make an exact copy of it in six months, and if he could complete in six months what took Titian seven years, he deserved the order of knighthood, and if he failed to fulfil his promise, he would forfeit his head.

He read and wrote, and played cards, speaking always by signs but with a clear and concise expression that it roused the admiration of all those who talked with him. Susan Plann further explains how he was well known for his intelligence and his skills at the gaming table and how he meticulously tracked his wins and losses. Navarrete died in Toledo inhaving finished only eight of the twenty two saints and evangelists he had agreed to paint for the Escorial.

Album pintoresco universal. Spain: Imprenta de Francisco Oliva, Titian was very old, and died inand TintorettoVeronese and Anthonis Mor all refused to come to Spain. Philip had to rely on the lesser talent of Navarrete, whose gravedad y decoro "seriousness and decorum" the king approved. For eleven years until his death Navarrete worked largely on El Escorial.

The most celebrated of the works he produced there are a " Nativity " in which, as in the well-known work on the same subject by Correggiothe light emanates from the infant Savioura "Baptism of Christ" now Pradoand " Abraham Receiving the Three Angels " one of his last works, datedNational Gallery of Ireland, Dublin. He executed many other altar-pieces, all characterized by boldness and freedom in design, and by the rich warm colouring which has acquired for him the surname of "the Spanish Titian.

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Chisholm, Hughed. Cambridge University Press. Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. He lost his hearing at the age of three and never learned to talk. Juan's amazing drawings skills became evident when he began communicating his needs by drawing them out with charcoal on paper.

The young artist never allowed his disabilities to hamper his dreams or ambitions and allowed his art to become his voice. Like many Spanish painters he journeyed to Italy to soak up the rich traditions of painting and culture. Navarrete spent several years studying under Italian Master Titian in Venice. In he was selected to become the official court painter to monarch Philip II of Spain.

Once in Spain the majority of his career was spent working on altarpieces for the Escorial. The ungrateful king never valued the brilliance of Navarrete nor the great vision of Titian whom he had commissioned to paint a Last Supper. When the childish Monarch insisted on mutilating Titians great masterpiece by cutting it so it would fit into a church.

Juan fernandez navarrete biography of william

Navarrete begged the king to allow him to paint a smaller version of Titians painting but Philip II was adamant and the masterpiece was cut and forever changed. The king ordered it to be cut, which so distressed El Mudo that he offered to copy it in six months, in reduced size, and to forfeit his head if he did not fulfill his promise. He also added that he should hope to be knighted if he copied in six months what Titian had taken seven years to paint.

But Philip was resolute, and the picture was cut, to the intense grief of the dumb Navarrete.