Juan Fernández Navarrete

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Juan Fernández Navarrete
Juan Fernández de Navarrete
Born1526 (1526)
Died28 March 1579(1579-03-28) (aged 52–53)
Known forPainting
MovementRenaissance
Juan Fernández Navarrete, Baptism of Christ, Museo del Prado, 1567

Juan Fernández Navarrete (1526 – 28 March 1579), or "de Navarrete", called El Mudo (The Mute), was a Spanish Mannerist painter, born at Logroño.

Biography

An illness in infancy deprived Navarrete of his hearing, which affected his ability to learn to speak. At a very early age he began to express his wants by sketching objects with a piece of

Hieronymite monk at Estella, and also with Becerra. He visited Naples, Rome, Florence and Milan. Pellegrino Tibaldi
met him in Rome in 1550.

According to most accounts he was for a considerable time the pupil and assistant of

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.[1]

The most celebrated of the works he produced there are a "

" (one of his last works, dated 1576, National 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." He died at the age of 52–53 in Toledo.

References

  1. ^ Trevor-Roper, Hugh; Princes and Artists, Patronage and Ideology at Four Habsburg Courts 1517-1633, Thames & Hudson, London, 1976, pp. 62-68

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainChisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Navarrete, Juan Fernandez". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 282.