Mateo Cerezo the Younger (Burgos, 1637 - Madrid, 1666) was one of the most representative painters of the Madrid school of the High Baroque. He first trained with his father, Mateo Cerezo the Elder, a Burgos painter. According to Antonio Palomino, he later moved to Madrid and joined the workshop of Juan Carreño de Miranda, although this link lacks documentary confirmation and has been questioned. He died young, at about twenty-nine, but left a considerable body of religious works, made both for altarpieces and for private devotion, as well as still lifes that Palomino praised.
His earliest known works are the paintings for the high altarpiece of the convent of Jesús y María in Valladolid, documented between 1658 and 1659, which show a style close to that of Antonio de Pereda. He was briefly imprisoned during his stay in Valladolid. He then passed through Burgos, where, according to the records, he painted a Saint Francis of Assisi for the cathedral, and in 1660 he returned to Madrid. That year he signed the Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine, now in the Prado, painted with fluid brushwork and warm colour. From the same period come an Immaculate Conception for the convent of the Comendadoras de Santiago and Saint Thomas of Villanueva Giving Alms, now in the Louvre.
His painting combines the influence of Carreño and Pereda with a striking ability to absorb diverse models, as shown by his almost literal copy of El Greco's Crucifixion. He married María Fernández Campuzano in 1664. Ill in June 1666, he granted power to make his will and died three days later. Today his work is a key reference for understanding seventeenth-century painting in Madrid.
Works (3)
This oil on canvas shows Christ after the Flagellation, at a moment of restrained suffering meant to encourage devotional reflection. It is dated 1601 and is kept in the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption in Briones. The available information does not allow us to say more about its commission or composition.
The painting shows Mary Magdalene in a penitent pose, a common subject in religious art. It is an oil on canvas dated 1661 and is held by the Rijksmuseum. Little is recorded about its commission, so it is best approached through its expression and the handling of light.
Mateo Cerezo painted this Immaculate Conception around 1661-1662, when the Church first authorised worship of Mary under that title. The composition rests on two axes: a vertical one formed by the Virgin's figure, and a diagonal one traced by her billowing mantle and the angels at the base. It is one of several versions of the subject that the painter made.
Where to see the work
- Rijksmuseum Amsterdam · 1
Curiosities
A mule and a jail cell
In October 1658, while in Valladolid, Cerezo stabbed to death the mule that had carried him from Madrid. He ended up in prison and was released thanks to a bond posted by the jeweller Antonio de Tapia. The animal had been valued at 850 reales, and that sum was demanded from him. The next day, already free, he granted powers to lawyers to defend him.
A father nicknamed the Bad
Cerezo's father, Mateo Cerezo the Elder, was a modest painter known mainly for his portraits of the Holy Christ of Burgos. The critic Jovellanos called him el Malo, a nickname that helps tell him apart from his son. Even so, the father came to lead one of the busiest workshops in Burgos in his day, and it was with him that the young Mateo began his training.