The Easel | Art journalism

5th May 2026

Spanish Baroque Painter Zurbarán: Essential Meditative Moments at the National Gallery

Lorenzo Belenguer | Medium | 4th May 2026

Zurbarán painted when Spain was militantly religious, so many of his works went to religious orders in and around prosperous Seville. Often painted against nearly black backgrounds, his images are austere yet compellingly real, full of drama, emotion and beauty. The way he conjures up form and volume brings his figures to life while his still lifes mesmerise with their accuracy and the way they present the spectacle of life. Says one critic “Oh my … in painting after painting we encounter genius”.

28th April 2026

Franz Xaver Messerschmidt and His Bizarre Character Heads

Zuzanna Stanska | Daily Art | 14th April 2026

For someone relatively unknown the Viennese late baroque artist Franz Messerschmidt gets lots of exhibitions. The reason it seems is his perplexing series of 60 or so “character head” sculptures. Done in late career, they are highly detailed male faces showing various extreme emotions. Messerschmidt kept them for himself. Were they a reflection of his mental ill-health or just the Enlightenment’s fascination with faces? Says one critic “a lost soul of the European Enlightenment.” A detailed essay is here.

Austria Baroque Enlightenment faces Messerschmidt Franz Xaver sculpture Vienna

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