[Vicente]. Head of the Valencian school of painters, and often called “the Spanish Raphael,” born at Fuente de la Higuera in the province of Valencia. He is said to have studied his art for some time in Rome, with which school his affinities are closest, but the greater part of his professional life was spent in the city of Valencia, where most of the extant examples of his work are now to be found. All relate to religious subjects, and are characterized by dignity of conception, accuracy of drawing, truth and beauty of colour, and minuteness of finish. He died at Bocairente (near Jativa) while engaged upon an altarpiece in the church there, on the 21st of December 1579.
