Carducho, Vicente

(1576-1638)

   Florentine-born Mannerist painter who was active, along with his brother Bartolomé, in the court of Philip II of Spain; both men were involved in the decoration of the Monastery of San Lorenzo in El Escorial. In 1609, Carducho succeeded his brother as royal painter. In that capacity, he was charged with the commission to paint St. John the Baptist Preaching (1610; Madrid, Museo Real Academia de Bellas Artes) for the Basilica of St. Francis in Madrid. In 1618, he also executed the altarpiece for the Monastery of Guadalupe in Cáceres and, from 1626 to 1632, he painted a series of 56 canvases for the Royal Monastery of Paular near Segovia. In 1623 his position was threatened when Diego Velazquez arrived at the court in Madrid. Carducho is best known as an art theorist. His Diálogos de la Pintura (1633) did much to raise the status of painters in Spain from craftsman to genius. It championed Michelangelo and the classical Italian tradition and criticized Caravaggio for his excessive naturalism—in reality, an attack on Velázquez, who also stressed naturalism and who overshadowed Carducho at the Spanish court.