FRANCISCO PRADILLA (Villanueva de Gállego, Zaragoza,... Lot 16

FRANCISCO PRADILLA (Villanueva de Gállego, Zaragoza, 1848 - Madrid, 1921). "Portrait of Consuelo Carrete". Oil on canvas. Painted with Muzzi colours, unalterable. Signed in the lower left corner. Signed and inscribed on the back. The period frame shows damage and xylophages. Small perforation on the canvas. Measurements: 44 x 58 cm; 59 x 72 cm (frame). Francisco Pradilla began his training as an apprentice of Mariano Pescador, a scenographer painter, and at the School of Fine Arts of San Luis in Saragossa. In 1868 he continued his studies at the San Fernando School of Fine Arts in Madrid, where he was a pupil of Federico de Madrazo, Carlos de Haes, Carlos Luis de Ribera and Ponciano Ponzano. He completed his training during these years by copying works by the great masters of the Prado Museum. In 1874 he won the Drawing Prize of the "Ilustración Española y Americana" and was awarded a scholarship to study in Rome, where he lived for twenty-three years until his appointment as director of the Prado in 1897. In 1878 he took part in the National Exhibition in Madrid and was awarded the Medal of Honour, the same distinction he won that same year at the Universal Exhibition in Paris. As a result of these successes he received numerous commissions not only from Spain and France, but also from America and other European countries. He travelled around Spain and became interested in depicting genre scenes full of grace and colour, always based on an exceptional mastery of drawing. Although he did not hold individual exhibitions, his works took part in exhibitions and competitions in cities all over the world, such as London, Paris, Berlin, São Paulo and Buenos Aires. He was director of the Spanish Academy in Rome, and a member of the Royal Academies of San Fernando and San Luis, the French Academy and the Hispanic Society of New York. Among other decorations, he was awarded the Cross of Isabella the Catholic and the Legion of Honour. Of the pictorial genres he cultivated, including graphic illustration for literary publications, history painting was the one that brought him most fame. As a portrait painter his activity was more limited and his results were uneven when he had to paint portraits of deceased sitters, but he achieved portraits of serene expressiveness and a studied, intoned execution in the presence of living models. He also devoted himself to genre painting, whether of Italian folk inspiration or subjects of customs in Madrid or Galicia, his wife's place of origin, where he used to spend periods of time. Both in his history paintings and in these, Pradilla showed a clear inclination for outdoor settings, organising his compositions in broad panoramic perspectives with a multitude of figures and motifs, rendered with a highly refined technique. However, the most outstanding feature of his language is his sense of light and atmosphere, under which the tight drawing is softened and blended with the luminous background by means of small brushstrokes of colour rich in nuances and paste. Francisco Pradilla's work can be found in the Museo del Prado, the Museo de Bellas Artes in Bilbao, Buenos Aires, Havana and São Paulo, the MACBA in Barcelona, the Christchurch Art Gallery in New Zealand and the Museo Romántico in Madrid.