The Grandeur of the Spanish Baroque: The Life of Francisco Rizi Francisco Rizi de Guevara, a name synonymous with the theatrical splendor of the seventeenth-century Spanish Golden Age, lived a life that mirrored the very drama he captured on canvas. Born in Madrid around 1608, Rizi was destined for a life steeped in the arts. He was the son of Antonio Ricci, an Italian painter from Ancona who had traveled to Spain to contribute to the magnificent decorations of El Escorial. This lineage provided Francisco with an early immersion in the technical rigors of the craft, as he began his journey w…