Vincenzo Carducci


Vincenzio Carduccio was an Italian painter.

Biography

He was born in Florence, and was trained as a painter by his brother Bartolomeo Carduccio, whom he followed to Madrid as a boy.
He initially painted some works at Valladolid and helped his brother in painting at the Escorial for Philip II of Spain. He returned to the court of Philip III in Madrid in 1606 and helped decorate the recently rebuilt Palacio del Pardo. While at work his brother died, and Vicente took his place. He painted there a history of Achilles. When finished, he was employed for four years by the monks of the Chartreuse of el Paular to decorate their monastery with 54 canvases of historical figures the great cloister. 27 represent the live of St. Bruno, 27 of martyrs.
He worked a great deal for the subsequent monarch, Philip IV, and his best pictures are those he executed for him as decorations, now preserved in the Prado. Examples of his work are preserved at Toledo, Segovia, and several other Spanish cities. For many years he labored in Madrid as a teacher of his art, and among his pupils were Juan Ricci, Pedro Obregon, Vela, Francisco Collantes, and other distinguished representatives of the Spanish school during the 17th century.
He also authored a treatise, De las Excelencias de la Pintura or Diálogos de la pintura, su defensa, origen, essencia, definición, modos, y differencias, published in 1633. Written in classical tradition as a dialogue between a master and an apprentice. Following strict piety of the Spanish realm, the text urges:
Carducho also assailed the verism of practiced by some such as Velázquez, and particularly was critical of Caravaggio and his followers, on whom he wrote:
Carducho died in Madrid.
The largest collection of his Works remain in the Prado Museum. The Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando owns two paintings of the series made for the Basilica de San Francisco el Grande in Madrid.