Josefa de Óbidos was a Spanish-born Portuguese artist. She was a representative of the style of Baroque.
Background
De Óbidos was born in Seville, Spain, in 1630. She was baptized on February 20, 1630. Josefa de Óbidos' godfather was the notable Sevillian painter Francisco de Herrera the Elder.
Her father was Baltazar Gomes Figueira, a Portuguese painter from the village of Óbidos. He went to Seville in the 1620s to improve his painting technique. While there, he married Catarina de Ayala y Cabrera, a native Andalusian. They later gave birth to Josefa. By May 3, 1634, the family had lived in Figueira's native village Óbidos, where their son Francisco was born and baptized.
Education
Josefa de Óbidos became a boarder at the Augustinian Convent of Santa Ana in Coimbra in 1644, whereas her father was in nearby Santa Cruz, working on an altarpiece for the church of Nossa Senhora da Graça. Around this time de Óbidos began her apprenticeship under her father, a painter of landscapes, still-lifes and religious works. While in residence at this convent, she produced engravings of St. Catherine and St. Peter in 1646. These were her earliest signed extant artworks.
Career
De Obidos' first signed painting dated to 1647. This year she created a small artwork ttiled Mystical Marriage of St. Catherine on copper, executed for the Augustinian Monastery of Santa Cruz in Coimbra. The same year, she completed other small paintings on copper, including a Nativity Scene with St. Francis and Saint Clare Adoring the Newborn Christ.
By 1653, she and her family had left Coimbra and settled in Óbidos. There Josefa de Óbidos contributed an allegory of Wisdom to the Novos estatutos da Universidade de Coimbra, the book of rules for the University of Coimbra, the frontispiece of which was decorated by her father.
Later she executed several religious altarpieces for different churches and convents in central Portugal, as well as paintings of portraits and still-life for her private customers.
In the course of her career, Josefa de Óbidos received many important public commissions for altarpieces and other artworks to be placed in churches and monasteries of Portugal. Among her chief religious works are the five panels for the Saint Catherine altarpiece of the Church of the Holy Mary (Santa Maria) in Óbidos, in 1661.
In 1672-1673 she painted the altarpiece of Saint Theresa of Ávila for the Carmelite Convent of Cascais. In 1679 she completed an altarpiece and four paintings for the Church of the Mercy of Peniche. Her best-known portrait is that of Faustino das Neves, dated c.1670.
An example of one of De Obidos' religious paintings would be The Pascal Lamb which conveys ideas of godliness and sacrifice. Her religious works represent the passage of time, the inevitability of death, and the possibility of rebirth.
Achievements
Josefa de Óbidos is known as one of the most celebrated Portuguese artists of the 17th century. She was a famous painter of still-lifes and religious subjects, as well as an accomplished engraver.
Some of her most notable pieces include: the Portrait of Faustino das Neves created in 1670; Santa Teresa Esposa Mística (1672); and Still Life with Sweets (1679), as well as a series of paintings of the months of the year, painted in collaboration with her father and now dispersed among various private collections.
Many of her still-life paintings are now displayed at the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga in Lisbon. Approximately 150 artworks of art have been attributed to Josefa de Óbidos, making her one of the most fruitful Baroque painters in Portugal.
St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi in adoration of the Infant Christ
Pears and marasca cherries in a basket
O Menino Jesus Salvador do Mundo
Nativity of Jesus
Cordeiro Pascal
Calvário
Visão de São João da Cruz
St. Mary Magdalene
São José e o Menino
Transverberação de Santa Teresa
Bodegón de carne, pan, pollo y cacharros
Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist, Saint Elizabeth and Angels
The Penitent Magdalene Comforted by Angels
Menino Jesus Peregrino
Niño Jesús con los atributos de la Pasión
Saint Joseph et l'enfant Jésus dans une guirlande de fleurs
La lactation de Saint Bernard
Bodegón de flores
Nature morte à la corbeille de fruits
Connections
Josefa de Óbidos was described as having been "emancipated with the consent of her parents" and a "virgin who never married." The artist lived as an independent woman earning her own living from her paintings.
Father:
Baltazar Gomes Figueira
Mother:
Catarina de Ayala y Cabrera
god-father:
Francisco de Herrera the Elder
Francisco Herrera (1576-1656) was a distinguished Spanish painter. He was the founder of the Seville school.
