May 4
So yesterday I went to see an exhibition of the paintings of Francisco de Zurbaran (1598-1664), a Spanish painter who created striking compositions and possessed a magnificent skill for painting fabrics
His paintings were inspiring but I can't get over the fact that he visualised the concept of the Virgin and Christ being risen by the heavenly host as the pair of them sitting/standing on a pile of baby cherub heads, surrounded by more ghostly detached baby heads staring at them from the clouds/ acting as halos.
Maybe this was the traditional concept and I just haven't seen enough 17th century Catholic art to know, but for my ignorant eyes these are so delightfully weird that I'm sorely tempted to spend another £20 to go stare at them again.
