Nicolás Borrás

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nicolás Borrás (born in Cocentaina, 1530; d. in Gandia, 1610) was a Spanish painter, active in Valencia.

Going to Valencia at an early age to study under Vicente Juan Macip, Borrás became the latter's most noteworthy pupil. Borrás's works generally resemble those of Macip and some of them have been taken for his. Upon entering the priesthood he was assigned to the Hieronymite monastery of St. Jerome in Gandia where he enjoyed his stay so much that he asked for membership in the order has his only payment. He received the habit in 1575, and took the final vows the following year. Three years later, he spent some time with the Capuchins at the Franciscan monastery of San Juan de la Riviera near Valencia. He was soon back, however, at Gandia where he passed the rest of his life painting, leaving twelve altar pieces in the church alone. He also spent his own money in the employment of sculptors and builders for the embellishment of the monastery.

Borrás also did much work for churches and religious houses in Valencia, Madrid, and elsewhere. His paintings appeared in Saint Mary of Valencia Cathedral and at the Hieronymite monastery in the city of San Miguel de los Reyes where there was a "Christ at the Column", and a picture of the painter in adoration of "The Holy Virgin". Others were in the church of St. Stephen in Gandia, in the Escorial in Aldaia, and in Ontiniente. In a museum in Valencia there are some fifty paintings by Borrás chiefly from Gandia and San Miguel. Among them are The Last Supper, Christ Bearing His Cross, The Dead Saviour in the Arms of the Eternal Father, and The Archangel Michael Driving Souls into Purgatory and Hell. In the last Borrás is supposed to have pictured himself as a white robed monk kneeling on the brink.

[edit] External links