Admiring the 17th-century Spanish artist Francisco de Zurbarán, Henri Matisse commented on “the simultaneously light and pastose treatment given to the bone-white capes in which he dressed his monks.” For those unfamiliar with the term “pastose”—as I was—it derives from the Italian pastoso, meaning doughy, like pasta. Indeed, Zurbarán’s subtle matte whites and his panoply of rich blacks fortify and sustain us. “Zurbarán: Reinventing a Masterpiece,” at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, provides a rare opportunity to see the artist’s work in the range and depth it deserves. Located near the Saône river, the Musée is one of those marvelous mid-sized museums that makes art readily accessible. Zurbarán’s touching canvas of a beatific sheep with curly white hair; his poetic and exquisitely crafted still lifes, featuring crystalline vessels and pieces of fruit; and his three paintings of Saint Francis of Assisi, shown together for the first time ever—with works such as these only two hours from Paris, Lyon is the place to be. —Nicholas Fox Weber