Esteban March (c,1610,

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

- c.1668, Valencia) was a Spanish

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

painter. Most of what is known about his life comes from writings by

Antonio Palomino Acislo Antonio Palomino de Castro y Velasco (165513 April 1726) was a Spanish painter of the Baroque period, and a writer on art, author of ''El Museo pictórico y escala óptica'', which contains a large amount of important biographical mate ...

, who lived slightly later than March.

Life and work

His works may be compared, stylistically, to those of

Pedro Orrente Pedro de Orrente (April 1580, Murcia – 19 January 1645, Valencia) was a Spanish painter of the early Baroque period who became one of the first artists in that part of Spain to paint in a Naturalistic style. Biography His father, Jaime de Ho ...

, which suggests that he may have studied with him during Orrente's stay in Valencia (1638-1645). A depiction of Moses crossing the Red Sea, at the

Museo del Prado The Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It is widely considered to house one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from the ...

, which incorporates numerous figures and detailed animals, appears to owe a special debt to Orrente's style. Palomino indicates that he had a violent and extravagant temperament; based on anecdotes told by

Juan Conchillos Juan Conchillos Falco (1641 – 14 May 1711) was a Spanish painter in the Baroque style. Biography He was born in Valencia. He came from an illustrious family and spent many years studying in the workshop of Esteban March, who was apparently rat ...

, one of his more prominent students. Some of this aggressive, nervous character is reflected in his

battle painting Military art is art with a military subject matter, regardless of its style or medium. The battle scene is one of the oldest types of art in developed civilizations, as rulers have always been keen to celebrate their victories and intimidate po ...

s, which are his best known and most admired works. It is said that he had to work himself into a fury with martial music before beginning to paint. His interest in battlefields is also reflected in his paintings of Biblical scenes; notably two at the

Museu de Belles Arts de València The Museu de Belles Arts de València (; es, link=no, Museo de Bellas Artes de Valencia; English: "Museum of Fine Arts of Valencia") is an art gallery in Valencia, Spain, founded in 1913. It houses some 2,000 works, most dating from the 14th–17 ...

, which depict '' Joshua Stopping the Sun'' and the '' Triumph of David''. There is also some indication that he was familiar with the works of Italian battle painters, such as

Aniello Falcone Aniello Falcone (15 November 16001656) was an Italian Baroque painter, active in Naples and noted for his painted depictions of battle scenes. Some sources refer to him as ''Ancillo Falcone''. Biography Born in Naples the son of a tradesman, he ...

Salvator Rosa Salvator Rosa (1615 –1673) is best known today as an Italian Baroque painter, whose romanticized landscapes and history paintings, often set in dark and untamed nature, exerted considerable influence from the 17th century into the early 19th ...

and

Antonio Tempesta Antonio Tempesta, also called il Tempestino (1555 – 5 August 1630), was an Italian painter and engraver, whose art acted as a point of connection between Baroque Rome and the culture of Antwerp. Much of his work depicts major battles and hi ...

. His religious works include a

Last Supper Image:The Last Supper - Leonardo Da Vinci - High Resolution 32x16.jpg, 400px, alt=''The Last Supper'' by Leonardo da Vinci - Clickable Image, Depictions of the Last Supper in Christian art have been undertaken by artistic masters for centuries, ...

in the communion chapel at the and a

Calvary Calvary ( la, Calvariae or ) or Golgotha ( grc-gre, Γολγοθᾶ, ''Golgothâ'') was a site immediately outside Jerusalem's walls where Jesus was said to have been crucified according to the canonical Gospels. Since at least the early mediev ...

, in a private collection in Madrid. Again, his style owes much to Orrente. His drawings are also significant. These include a self-portrait, a portrait of his son, , and several studies of hands and knees from the collection of

Raimon Casellas Raimon Casellas i Dou (Barcelona, January 7, 1855 – Sant Joan de les Abadesses, November 2, 1910) was a Catalan journalist, art critic, ''modernisme'' narrator and collector. Author of ''Els sots feréstecs'' (1901), a work considered the first ...

. Although Palomino gives his year of death as 1660, he is referred to as still being alive in writings by

José García Hidalgo José García Hidalgo (1645 or 1646 – 1717 or 1719) was a Spanish painter, who wrote notes of his life, but omitted to state where and when he was born. Later research showed that he was born in Villena in 1646. He was named by the artists of ...

, who visited Valencia in 1662 and 1667 and probably met with him.

Sources

* *Palomino, Antonio (1988). ''El museo pictórico y escala óptica III, El Parnaso español pintoresco laureado''. Madrid: Aguilar. . *VV. AA. (1996). ''Cinco siglos de pintura valenciana. Obras del Museo de Bellas Artes de Valencia''. Valencia: Museo de Bellas Artes-Fundación Central Hispano. . *Pérez Sánchez, Alfonso E. (1992). ''Baroque Painting in Spain, 1600-1750'' (''Pintura barroca en España 1600-1750''). Madrid: Ediciones Cátedra S.A. .

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:March, Esteban 1590s births 1660 deaths People from Valencia Painters from the Valencian Community 17th-century Spanish painters Spanish male painters Spanish battle painters