Nicolás Borrás facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Nicolás Borrás
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Holy Family with St. Anne, XVI, Museu de Belles Arts de València
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| Born | 1530 Cocentaina, Kingdom of Valencia, Spain
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| Died | September 5, 1610 |
| Nationality | Spanish |
| Known for | Painting |
| Movement | Spanish Renaissance |
Friar Nicolás Borrás (1530–1610) was a Spanish painter and monk from the Spanish Renaissance period. He was very active in the Kingdom of Valencia, which is now part of Spain.
Early Life and Training
Nicolás Borrás was born in Cocentaina, a town in what was then the Kingdom of Valencia. Today, this area is in the Province of Alicante.
When he was young, he moved to Valencia city. There, he began to study painting with a famous artist named Vicente Juan Macip. Nicolás became Macip's most talented student. His paintings often looked very similar to Macip's, and sometimes people even confused them!
Life as a Monk and Artist
After becoming a priest, Nicolás Borrás was sent to the Monastery of Sant Jeroni de Cotalba. This monastery was located near Gandia. He loved living there so much that he decided to join the Hieronymite order of monks. He even offered his painting skills as his only payment to join!
The monks at Cotalba asked him to paint the main altarpiece for their church. This large artwork had fourteen panels and featured a sculpture of Saint Jerome in the middle. Nicolás also painted other altarpieces for the church's chapels and the chapterhouse. He created many paintings for different parts of the monastery too. For example, he painted four large canvases for the lower cloister.
One special painting that is still in its original place is The Saint Supper. It is a fresco painting, which means it was painted directly onto a wall. This artwork is in what used to be the monastery's dining hall, now known as the oil mill.
Later Years and Important Works
Nicolás Borrás officially became a monk in 1575 and took his final vows the next year. For a short time, he visited another monastery, but he soon returned to the Monastery of Sant Jeroni de Cotalba. He spent the rest of his life there, creating many beautiful paintings. He painted twelve altarpieces just for the church within the monastery! He even used his own money to hire sculptors and builders to make the monastery even more beautiful.
Borrás also painted for churches and religious houses in other cities, including Valencia and Madrid. Some of his paintings could be found in the Saint Mary of Valencia Cathedral. He also painted for the Hieronymite monastery in San Miguel de los Reyes.
Today, you can see about fifty of Borrás's paintings in the Museum of Fine Arts of Valencia. Many of these came from Gandia and San Miguel. Some of his well-known works there include The Last Supper, Christ Bearing His Cross, and The Archangel Michael Driving Souls into Purgatory and Hell. It is believed that in the last painting, Borrás included himself as a white-robed monk kneeling.
Nicolás Borrás passed away at the age of about 80 in the Monastery of Sant Jeroni de Cotalba, near Gandia.
See also
In Spanish: Nicolás Borrás para niños
