LUIS DE MADRAZO Y KUNTZ (Madrid, 1825 - 1897). Portrait... Lot 55

LUIS DE MADRAZO Y KUNTZ (Madrid, 1825 - 1897). Portrait of a Gentleman", 1865. Oil on canvas. Presents various labels. Signed and dated. Measurements: 130 x 95 cm; 147 x 112 cm (frame). Son of José de Madrazo and brother of Federico and Pedro, Luis de Madrazo enjoyed great prestige in life, being first a teacher (professor of Drawing of the Ancient and Ropajes) and later director of the School of Painting, Sculpture and Engraving of Madrid, and recognised with honours like the appointment of commander of the Order of Isabel the Catholic, as well as academic of number of the Real de Bellas Artes de San Fernando. He was a cultivator of religious and historical themes, although he was particularly praised as a portraitist. He began his training with his father and later furthered it at the San Fernando School in Madrid. As early as 1845 he was already working as an illustrator for "El Semanario Pintoresco". Later he also worked as a draughtsman for the "Semanario Pintoresco Español". In 1848 he went to Rome to further his artistic studies at the National Academy of St. Luke and the French Academy of the Villa Medici. In Rome he came into contact with Friedrich Overbeck through Antonio Solá. He received a powerful Nazarene influence from the German Romantic painter, which can be seen in his work from then on. Later he travelled to Paris, Venice, Munich and Berlin before returning to Italy in the 1890s, settling in Pompeii with the painters Bernardino Montañés and Francisco Sáinz. He finally returned to Spain to begin his teaching career in San Fernando and was introduced into the artistic circles of Madrid by his father and brother Federico. He worked with the latter at the Prado Museum. As a painter, Luis de Madrazo devoted himself almost exclusively to portraiture, working for official bodies and also for the nobility. He made his work, characterised by the purity of lines and the sharpness of colour and light typical of the strictest Nazarene aesthetic, known through various competitions and official exhibitions held both in Spain and abroad. In 1855 he was a major success at the Universal Exhibition in Paris, and the following year he won the first medal at the National Fine Arts Exhibition in Madrid for his work Pelayo en Covadonga ("Pelayo in Covadonga"). He was also awarded a silver medal at the Franco-Spanish Exhibition of 1864. Luis de Madrazo is currently represented in the Prado Museum, the Royal Academy of History in Madrid, the Lázaro Galdiano Museum in the same city and other important public and private collections.