Claudio Coello (2 March 1642 – 20 April 1693) was a Spanish-PortugueseBaroquepainter. Coello is considered the last great Spanish painter of the 17th century.
The son ofFaustino Coello, a famous Portuguesesculptor, he was acourt painter forCharles II. He worked on many churches and public buildings inMadrid, with his most famous work being in thesacristy ofEl Escorial, which is filled with portraits of priests and courtiers.
Claudio Coello was of Portuguese parents, but was born in Madrid in 1642. There, he was instructed in art byFrancisco Rizi, and while still in that school, made an altarpiece forSan Plácido at Madrid. His acquaintance with the court painter,Juan Carreño de Miranda, allowed him the permission to visit theroyal collection, where he made his greatest advance by studying the works ofTitian,Rubens, andvan Dyck. His friendship withJosé Jiménez Donoso, under whom he studied in Rome, was not less advantageous for him. In conjunction with Jiménez Donoso, he painted frescoes in Madrid and Toledo and painted theTriumphal Arch for the entrance of the queen,Maria Louisa of Orleans. He became well-known from these paintings and was employed by theArchbishop of Saragossa in 1683. He was made painter toCharles II, by whom he was employed in theEscorial.
Coello was the last Spanish painter of eminence for some years, as from the time thatLuca Giordano was summoned to Spain, art fell gradually into decay. Many excellent examples of his work are to be seen in the churches and convents in Madrid,Saragossa, andSalamanca. But his principal work is the famous altarpiece in the sacristy of San Lorenzo in the Escorial, representing the Adoration of the Miraculous Host. It is an immense composition, requiring seven years of work.
In the crowd of personages that form the procession, there are no less than fifty portraits, including those of the king and the principal figures of the court. It is painted with the utmost precision, yet in a bold and masterly style, and there is a majestic solemnity in the arrangement of the whole, which suits well the grandeur of the subject. It is a very extraordinary performance, and holds its place even alongside the works of Titian and Rubens. The preference given to Luca Giordano, who came to Madrid in 1692, in painting the grand staircase in the Escorial mortified Coello so much that he died of vexation in Madrid in 1693.[citation needed]
Coello etched three plates, viz. : — 'Christ on the Cross, with the Virgin, St. Augustine, and St. Monica,' and the portraits ofCharles II andhis mother. He was the instructor ofSebastián Muñoz andTeodoro Ardmans.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Bryan, Michael (1886)."Coello, Claudio". In Graves, Robert Edmund (ed.).Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers (A–K). Vol. I (3rd ed.). London: George Bell & Sons.
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