Antonio Palomino

Antonio Palomino (1655–1726) was born in Bujalance, near Córdoba, and studied philosophy, theology and law in Córdoba before taking painting lessons from Juan de Valdés Leal and then Juan de Alfaro y Gamez. He moved to Madrid in 1678, where he associated with Alfaro, Claudio Coello and Juan Carreño de Miranda, married a lady of rank, was ennobled, and in 1688 was appointed painter to Charles II. Among his major works are fresco ceilings: in Valencia, where from 1697 he painted the Church of Santos Juanes and the Basilica of Our Lady of the Forsaken, and in the dome of the sacristy of the Cartuja de Granada. He also wrote El Museo pictórico y escala óptica, published in three volumes between 1715 and 1724, whose third volume gathers so much biographical material on Spanish artists that he has been called the Spanish Vasari. After his wife died he took priest's orders, and he died in Madrid in 1726. Here: Pentecostés.