MORALES, LUIS de, known as EL DIVINO. — Spanish painter, born in Badajoz around 1500 and died there on 9 May 1586. He was among the most active painters of his time.
Among his numerous works, scattered throughout the various museums of the world, as well as in those of Spain and in churches, are the Ecce Homo in Seville Cathedral; Christ with the Cross, the Madonna and Child, and s. Gioacchino and s. Anna (dated 1546) in the Church of the Conception in Badajoz; a Christ and a Desolata in the Museum of Toledo; Christ at the Column in the Church of S. Isidoro Reale in Madrid; the Pietà, the Virgin and Child, and the Annunciation in the Prado Museum; the Immaculate Conception and the Virgin with the Son in the Museum of Valladolid.
An artist of profound mystical and pathetic feeling, in his art he reveals Italian influences, especially Lombard influences in the sfumato characteristic of his works, and those of the early Flemish painters in the coloring and elongation of his melancholy figures, at times somewhat mawkish, but nevertheless typical products of Spanish religious sentiment.