José Jiménez Donoso (c.1632,

Consuegra Consuegra is a municipality located in the province of Toledo, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. In 2018, the municipality had a population of 10,098 inhabitants. It is 80 km from Ciudad Real and 60 km from Toledo. Consuegra is located in La Man ...

– 14 September 1690,

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

) was a Spanish

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

architect and painter. He decorated many of his own buildings, using the Italian technique of

quadratura Illusionistic ceiling painting, which includes the techniques of perspective di sotto in sù and quadratura, is the tradition in Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo art in which ''trompe-l'œil'', perspective tools such as foreshortening, and other ...

Life and work

He learned the rudiments of art from his father, the painter Antonio Jiménez Donoso, and continued his studies in Madrid with Francisco Fernández, who was a follower of

Vicente Carducho Vincenzio Carduccio (in Spanish language, Spanish, sometimes ''Vicencio'' or Vicente Carducho; 1576 or 1578–1638) was an Italians, Italian Italian painter, painter who spent his career in Habsburg Spain, Spain. Education and training ...

. Around 1649, he moved to Rome, where he remained for seven years, learning how to paint

fresco Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...

es. He also studied architecture, apparently coming under the influence of

Francesco Borromini Francesco Borromini (, ), byname of Francesco Castelli (; 25 September 1599 – 2 August 1667), was an Italian architect born in the modern Switzerland, Swiss canton of Ticino

. When he returned to Madrid, he completed his studies at the school operated by

Juan Carreño de Miranda Juan Carreño de Miranda (25 March 1614 — 3 October 1685) was a Spanish painter of the Baroque period. Biography Born in Avilés in Asturias, his father was a painter with the same name, Juan Carreño de Miranda. His family moved to Madrid in ...

. After that, he attempted to obtain a position as

court painter A court painter was an artist who painted for the members of a royal or princely family, sometimes on a fixed salary and on an exclusive basis where the artist was not supposed to undertake other work. Painters were the most common, but the cour ...

to King Charles II, but was unsuccessful. He remained bitter over this failure, although he later became an official painter at

Toledo Cathedral The Primatial Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption (), is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Toledo, Spain. It is the seat of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Toledo. Since 1088, it holds the honorific title of Primatial, granted by ...

. His mastery of Italian techniques also served to provide him with numerous commissions. He was interred in the Iglesia de San Luis, which he had designed. Most of his architectural work has, however, disappeared. Some have been preserved in photographs and drawings, such as portions of Convento de Santo Tomás and the Iglesia de San Luis obispo, which was destroyed during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

. The

Casa de la Panadería The Casa de la Panadería is a municipal and cultural building on the north side of the Plaza Mayor, Madrid, Plaza Mayor in Madrid. It is four stories high, the ground floor comprising porticos and the top floor in the form of an attic, with its ...

, which he helped decorate after a fire in 1672, is still standing, despite another fire in 1790. His paintings are mostly frescoes in the Italian style. Prior to his time, most churches were largely painted white, with some geometric designs, Islamic style. He and Claudio Coello were among the first group to do Biblical scenes in the chapels and vaults. Again, much of this was destroyed during the Civil War. Also lost are works done for the private chamber of Queen

Marie Louise d’Orléans Marie may refer to the following. People Given name * Marie (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name ** List of people named Marie * Marie (Japanese given name) Surname * Jean Gabriel-Marie, French compo ...

at the Royal Alcázar. He was one of the artists who participated in decorating the Miracle Chapel at the

Convent of Las Descalzas Reales The Convent of Las Descalzas Reales () is a royal monastery situated in Madrid, Spain, administered by the Patrimonio Nacional. History The ''Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales'', literally the "Monastery of the Royal Discalced", resides in ...

, but it is difficult to pinpoint his contributions to the project. Several altarpieces have survived, as well as three oil paintings, depicting scenes from the life of Saint

Francis of Paola Francis of Paola, O.M. (also known as Francis the Fire Handler; 27 March 1416 – 2 April 1507), was a Roman Catholic friar from the town of Paola in Calabria who founded the Order of Minims. Like his patron saint (Francis of Assisi), but unlike ...

. His only known portrait is of

Juan José de Austria John Joseph of Austria or John of Austria (the Younger) (; 7 April 1629 – 17 September 1679) was a Spanish general and political figure. He was the only illegitimate son of Philip IV of Spain to be acknowledged by the King and trained for mi ...

, now at the Biblioteca Museu Víctor Balaguer.

Sources

* A. Rodríguez and G. de Ceballos
Biography
from the ''Gran Enciclopedia Rialp'' *

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 ...

, ''El Parnaso español'', Madrid 1724 * George Kubler, ''Arquitectura de los siglos XVII y XVIII'', Editorial Plus-Ultra, 1957 * Fernando Chueca Goitía, ''Madrid y los sitios reales'', Editorial Seix Barral, 1958 * Alfonso E. Pérez-Sánchez, ''Pintura barroca en España 1600-1750'', Ediciones Cátedra, 1992

External links

Biography
@ the

Museo del Prado The Museo del Prado ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It houses collections of Art of Europe, European art, dating from the 12th century to the early 20th ce ...

Digitalized works
@ the Biblioteca Digital Hispánica of the

Biblioteca Nacional de España The (National Library of Spain) is the national library of Spain. It is the largest public library in the country, and one of the largest in the world. Founded in 1711, it is an autonomous agency attached to the Ministry of Culture since 1 ...

Scholarly articles
in English about José Jiménez Donoso both in web an
PDF
@ th
Spanish Old Masters Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jimenez Donoso, Jose 1630s births 1690 deaths 17th-century Spanish painters 17th-century Spanish architects Fresco painters People from the Province of Toledo