Create Your Own Bodegon

When you think of still lifes you probably picture paintings of fruit bowls. You may have created one before. The bodegon, as you may remember, was a certain type of still life that artists created in Spain during the Baroque period. Today, create your own bodegon like Juan Sanchez Cotan did.

Supplies Needed:

Paper
Crayons
Black pastel
Pencil

Go into your kitchen (get permission first) and collect some fruits and vegetables. Be careful not to drop them. You'll still want to eat those veggies later! Arrange the fruits and vegetables on a clean table so that they don't touch each other. Did you notice that Cotan's veggies never touched each other?

The next step is to draw what you see. Start with pencil. When you're happy with your drawing, color in the fruits and vegetables with crayons.

Finally, fill in the background with black pastel. This will give your bodegon that dark, shadowy background. Remember that pastel can smudge and smear if you wipe at it. If you wish, use a tissue to get an even color. Be careful not to wipe your hand across the pastel, though.

Enjoy!

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Juan Sanchez Cotan

Juan Sanchez Cotan, as I told you yesterday, is remembered for his bodegones (still lifes). He was born in Spain in 1560 and painted during the Baroque period.

Cotan worked as an apprentice and then opened his own workshop. He painted in Toledo for about twenty years.
Like most Spanish painters of the time, Cotan painted many religious paintings. Religious paintings make up the bulk of his work. Critics agree, though, that his religious paintings are not special. His bodegones, however, were unlike anything that had been painted before and unlike anything else being created at the time.
In his bodegones, Cotan painted fruits and vegetables against black backgrounds. The food was always very well lighted which allowed Cotan to paint every detail. This helped the fruits and vegetables look real. You’ll notice that some of the food is hanging on strings. This is because people used to hang their produce so it wouldn’t go bad as quickly.

In 1603, Cotan decided to become a Carthusian monk. He stopped painting bodegones, preferring to paint religious scenes instead. He was still a popular artist when he died in 1627.

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Bodegones

The last couple of days we have been looking at painters of the Spanish Baroque period. On Wednesday, I’ll write more about the Baroque period but today I wanted to tell you about a specific type (genre) of painting that was popular in Spain during this time: bodegones.

Bodegones are a certain type of still life painting. They show food, drink, and animals that have not yet been prepared as food. In Spanish bodegones the food is usually not cooked. The paintings are often dark and serious. They do not include people and they do not hint at a celebration to come.
I did not show you any examples of bodegones last week but Zurbaran painted some. For example, look at the painting above.

Velazquez often combined bodegones with another genre. He liked to paint peasants in kitchens or taverns like in Old Woman Frying Eggs, shown below.
The painter I’ll tell you about tomorrow is known for his realistic bodegones. His name was Juan Sanchez Cotan and he painted Quince, Cabbage, Melon and Cucumber, shown below.
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