Born into a family of Portuguese origin, Juan de Valdés Leal served as an apprentice at the workshop of Antonio del Castillo in Cordoba, where he produced compositions with a certain naturalist harshness but still marked by the contrasting light and shade of tenebrism. Between 1653 and 1654, he painted his series Story of Saint Claire, whose pieces are now scattered. In it, the most original characteristics of his style, the almost habitual dynamism of certain compositions and his personal sense of colour could already be seen. In 1657 he settled in Seville and produced a series for the San Jerónimo de Buenavista Convent, whose pieces are also now scattered. This was one of the masterpieces that best express his personality, shown to be relatively austere and balanced, although always intensely expressive. His style then became increasingly impassioned, almost verging on expressionism: his drawing grew free and loose, and his brushstrokes violent and almost feverish. His series for the Carmelite order in Cordoba (painted from 1658 on) and, above all, his canvases for the Charity Hospital in Seville (1662) representing the famous Allegories of Death with a funereal tone and bleak realism, are perhaps the most original and impassioned part of his work. A trip to Madrid in around 1664 brought Valdés Leal into contact with the Madrid art scene, which explains why some canvases by court artists (Francisco Rizi, Francisco Camilo, etc.) with similar techniques and colour ranges have been attributed to him. Valdés Leal was an exact contemporary of Murillo, but he embodied a spiritual attitude and a sensitivity that was completely opposite to that of the latter, as he completely ignored physical beauty and pleasantness and sought a dramatic, expressive intensity that did not shy away from deformation or ugliness.
Born into a family of Portuguese origin, Juan de Valdés Leal served as an apprentice at the workshop of Antonio del Castillo in Cordoba, where he produced compositions with a certain naturalist harshness but still marked by the contrasting light and shade of tenebrism. Between 1653 and 1654, he painted his series Story of Saint Claire, whose pieces are now scattered. In it, the most original characteristics of his style, the almost habitual dynamism of certain compositions and his personal sense of colour could already be seen. In 1657 he settled in Seville and produced a series for the San Jerónimo de Buenavista Convent, whose pieces are also now scattered. This was one of the masterpieces that best express his personality, shown to be relatively austere and balanced, although always intensely expressive. His style then became increasingly impassioned, almost verging on expressionism: his drawing grew free and loose, and his brushstrokes violent and almost feverish. His series for the Carmelite order in Cordoba (painted from 1658 on) and, above all, his canvases for the Charity Hospital in Seville (1662) representing the famous Allegories of Death with a funereal tone and bleak realism, are perhaps the most original and impassioned part of his work. A trip to Madrid in around 1664 brought Valdés Leal into contact with the Madrid art scene, which explains why some canvases by court artists (Francisco Rizi, Francisco Camilo, etc.) with similar techniques and colour ranges have been attributed to him. Valdés Leal was an exact contemporary of Murillo, but he embodied a spiritual attitude and a sensitivity that was completely opposite to that of the latter, as he completely ignored physical beauty and pleasantness and sought a dramatic, expressive intensity that did not shy away from deformation or ugliness.