Zurberan
Spanish Catholic iconography has always fascinated me, in a mostly horrific way. Writhing martyrs, vivid crucifixions, pious sugary virgins- to visit museums and churches is to run a private league table of the most grotesquely spectacular images. The Counter- Reformation Catholic Church demanded of its artists the utmost realism, actual or imagined, to intimidate and inspire the faithful with the reality of the holy supernatural according to Rome.
