GONZÁLEZ VELÁZQUEZ, Antonio

Painter, member of a Spanish family of artists. Pablo González Velázquez (1664-1727) was an Andalusian sculptor who worked in the BaroqueGLOSSARYThe period in art history from about 1600 to about 1750. In this sense the term covers a wide range of styles and artists. In painting and sculpture there were three main forms of Baroque: (1) sumptuous display, a style associated with the Catholic Counter Reformation and the absolutist courts of Europe (Bernini, Rubens); (2) dramatic realism (Caravaggio); and (3) everyday realism, a development seen in particular in Holland (Rembrandt, Vermeer). In architecture, there was an emphasis on expressiveness and grandeur, achieved through scale, the dramatic use of light and shadow, and increasingly elaborate decoration. In a more limited sense the term Baroque often refers to the first of these categories. The development of the Baroque reflects the period's religious tensions (Catholic versus Protestant); a new and more expansive world view based on science and exploration; and the growth of absolutist monarchies. style and in 1702 settled in Madrid, where his three sons were born. There were numerous collaborations between the sons. Luis González Velázquez and Alejandro González Velázquez worked together in Madrid on the chapelGLOSSARYa small separate place for worship, either part of a large church or a separate building. of S Teresa (1737-39) in the church of S José, the church of the convent of El Sacramento, the church of El Salvador and the church of the Carmelitas Descalzas; in La Puebla de Montalbán, near Toledo, they worked together on the Ermita de la Virgen de la Soledad (1741-42), for which they executed the main altarpieceGLOSSARYA picture or sculpture that stands on or is set up behind an altar. The term reredos is used for an ornamental screen or partition, not directly attached to the altar table but affixed to the wall behind it. A diptych is an altarpiece consisting of two panels, a triptych one of three panels, and a polyptych one of four or more panels. From the 14th to 16th century, the altarpiece was one of the most important commissions in European art; it was through the altarpiece that some of the most decisive developments in painting and sculpture came about. and pendentiveGLOSSARYcurving triangular area linking a round dome to the square space below. paintings of Esther, Judith, Rachel and Abigail. The two also often undertook stage designs for the theatre in the Palacio del Buen Retiro in Madrid. They collaborated with their younger brother Antonio González Velázquez on the decoration of the church of the convent of La Visitación (now S Bárbara) in Madrid in 1757-58, the church of La Encarnación, the church of the Descalzas Reales, the church of the Salesas Reales (where they completed projects begun by Corrado Giaquinto, painting scenes from the Life of the Virgin and Allegories of the Virtues in frescoGLOSSARYWall painting technique in which pigments are applied to wet (fresh) plaster (intonaco). The pigments bind with the drying plaster to form a very durable image. Only a small area can be painted in a day, and these areas, drying to a slightly different tint, can in time be seen. Small amounts of retouching and detail work could be carried out on the dry plaster, a technique known as a secco fresco. on the domeGLOSSARYin architecture, hemispherical structure evolved from the arch, usually forming a ceiling or roof.), the churches of S Isabel and S Ana and the church of SS Justo y Pastor, Madrid. Antonio was the father of Zacarías González Velázquez, the architect Isidro González Velázquez, and Castor González Velázquez.

Antonio González Velázquez was a painter. After training in Madrid at the drawing school of the preparatory committee of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, in 1746 he obtained a grant from the committee to study in Rome, where he stayed until 1752, in the workshop of Corrado Giaquinto. In 1748 he executed decorative works for Santa Trinità degli Spagnoli, Rome, painting canvases of the Good Shepherd, Pope Innocent III Giving Habits to the First Trinitarians and St John of Matha Visiting St Felix of Valois for the church walls, and frescoing scenes from the Life of Abraham on the dome and Moses and three other prophets on the pendentives. Attribution of this work has been questioned, but both the documentation and the technique confirm that it was the work of Antonio and not of Goya, as has been suggested. The magnificent decoration of the vaultGLOSSARYA roof or ceiling whose structure is based on the arch. There are a wide range of forms, including the barrel (or tunnel) vault, formed by a continuous semi-circular arch; the groin vault, formed when two barrel vaults intersect; and the rib vault, consistong of a framework of diagonal ribs supporting interlocking arches. The development of the various forms was of great structural and aesthetic importance in the development of church architecture during the Middle Ages. shows the influence of Giaquinto, which was decisive in Antonio's development.