Background
He was born in Madrid to a Catalan cabinetmaker, gilder and altarpiece joiner, Josep Simó Xoriguera i Elies and to doña Maria de Ocaña, and studied under his father along with two of his brothers.
He was born in Madrid to a Catalan cabinetmaker, gilder and altarpiece joiner, Josep Simó Xoriguera i Elies and to doña Maria de Ocaña, and studied under his father along with two of his brothers.
His excessively decorated style, which can be described as an obsessively over-wrought horror vacui on any surface or facade, led to the adjective churrigueresque. In Spain, the artistry appears to have been influenced by the highly decorated styles of Moorish architecture.