Cano, Alonso

Cano, Alonso (älōn`sō kä`nō), 1601–67, Spanish baroque painter, sculptor, and architect. Cano studied under Pacheco and received painting and architecture commissions from King Philip IV. He was named chief architect of the cathedral at Granada. His architectural masterpiece is the design for the cathedral facade (1667), erected after his death. Cano executed both the sculpture and paintings for his monumental altarpieces and did independent religious pictures and portraits for the cathedral. Examples of his paintings are Descent into Limbo (Los Angeles County Mus.); Way to Calvary (Worcester Art Mus., Mass.); and Portrait of an Ecclesiastic (Hispanic Society of America, New York City). His sculptures, including statues of saints in Granada Cathedral, were executed with vigor and sensitivity.

Bibliography

See study by H. E. Wethey (1955).

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Cano, Alonso

(born March 19, 1601, Granada, Spain—died Sept. 3, 1667, Granada) Spanish painter, sculptor, and architect. He studied in Sevilla with Francisco Pacheco and was active as court painter in Madrid (1638–44). Despite a violent temperament, Cano produced serene and elegant religious paintings and sculpture. He worked for much of his career in Granada, where he designed the facade of the Granada Cathedral (1667), one of the masterpieces of Spanish Baroque architecture. He is often called the Spanish Michelangelo for the diversity of his talents.

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Cano, Alonso 

Baptized Mar. 19, 1601, in Granada; died there Sept. 3, 1667. Spanish sculptor and painter, representative of the baroque style.

Cano began studying under J. Moñténes and F. Pacheco in Sevilla in 1616. He worked there until 1637. He subsequently worked in Madrid, Valencia, and Granada (from 1652). Maintaining the traditions of painted wooden sculpture, Cano’s polychromatic sculptures are imposing and are characterized by subtle spirituality and eloquent expressiveness. Examples of his sculpture are the retables of the Church of Santa Maria in Le-brija (near Sevilla, 1628–38) and the statues and busts of saints in the Granada Cathedral (1658–60). Cano’s paintings, which are characterized by idealization of forms, external prettiness, and Italian artistic influences, are less distinctive than his sculptures. His paintings include The Virgin Presenting the Infant Christ to St. Anthony (1645–52, Prado, Madrid) and the series Seven Joys of the Virgin (1652–64, Granada Cathedral). In 1703, Cano’s design for the western facade of the Granada Cathedral was carried out by the architect J. Granados.

REFERENCE

Wethey, N. E. Alonso Cano. Princeton, 1955.