Juan Rizi

Juan Andrés Rizi, also known as Fray Juan Rizi or Juan Andrés Ricci, was a Spanish Baroque painter and Benedictine monk, born in Madrid and descended from the Italian painter Antonio Ricci of Ancona. He trained within Madrid’s artistic milieu, probably with his father and with Juan Bautista Maíno, and was closely connected with the generation surrounding Velázquez. After entering the Benedictine order, Rizi devoted much of his career to commissions for monasteries, working at Montserrat, Santo Domingo de Silos, San Millán de la Cogolla, San Pedro de Cardeña and other religious foundations. From 1662 he was active in Italy, eventually settling at Monte Cassino, where he died in 1681. Rizi is best known for monumental religious paintings, particularly scenes from the lives of Benedictine saints. His figures are strongly modelled and often strikingly naturalistic, while dramatic, directional light isolates them against dark grounds. Broad, vigorous brushwork, restrained but sometimes unexpectedly luminous colour, and carefully observed fabrics and faces give his compositions both physical presence and contemplative gravity. His mature work could also become more expansive and colourful, as seen in the dynamic battle scenes painted for San Millán.

His combination of tenebrism, realism and monastic subject matter distinguishes him within Madrid’s Baroque tradition. He also wrote on art and geometry, notably La Pintura Sabia (1659), revealing an unusually theoretical dimension to his practice.