Alejandro Bonilla Correa-Cruzado (1820–1901) was

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

painter and teacher born in

Santo Domingo , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 (Distrito Nacional) , websi ...

, considered one of the fathers of the national Dominican pictorial tradition. A close friend to the founding fathers of Dominican independence, “ La Trinitaria”, Juan Pablo Duarte, Matías Ramón Mella, and Francisco del Rosario Sánchez, he was the first to paint their portraits and one of the signatories of the Manifesto of January 16, 1844. The first important national painter and career, or professional, artist, Bonilla established a workshop in his home city and went on to become teacher to other prominent Dominican painters. His works were mostly of the realist, or romantic style. Art historian and critic Danilo de los Santos attributes Bonilla as the most perceptible and formal starting point of Dominican art. He died on October 4, 1901. No photos or painted portraits of him have been found.

Biography

Born in Santo Domingo on November 17, 1820, Alejandro Bonilla Correa-Cruzado was the sixth of seven children to a Puerto Rican father, Juan Manuel Bonilla, and Dominican mother Maria Idelfonsa Correa-Cruzado, from Santo Domingo.Danilo de los Santos. Memoria de la Pintura Dominicana. (Colección Centenario Grupo León Jimenes) 8v: il. Grupo León Jimenes. Santo Domingo, 2003. pg 203 A contemporary of Duarte, Bonilla began art lessons early in life in his hometown, likely receiving artistic guidance from native painters Domingo Echavarría, Leon Cordero or Epifanio Billini, or the foreign artist Alex De Brye, who resided in Santo Domingo in the late 1830s.Danilo de los Santos. Memoria de la Pintura Dominicana. (Colección Centenario Grupo León Jimenes) 8v: il. Grupo León Jimenes. Santo Domingo, 2003. pg 204 Around this time, Bonilla, in his late teen years, traveled to

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

after the political situation in Dominican Republic intensified, living there throughout the 1840s while continuing art lessons. At 29 years old, he married Luisa Marcano, and the two went on to have 6 children. He suffered ostracism during the period known as the " Six Years of Báez", resulting in his exile to

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

in 1868, where he entered the workshop of an Italian painter specializing in portrait painting, learning under his guidance. In Caracas, he made his living off commissioned portraits and teaching; later, under the protection of Venezuelan President Falcón, who held him in high esteem, he established a painting school. It is unknown if the painter brought his children to live in the Venezuelan capital, which he eventually leaves to return to his native country in 1874 after six years of exile.Danilo de los Santos. Memoria de la Pintura Dominicana. (Colección Centenario Grupo León Jimenes) 8v: il. Grupo León Jimenes. Santo Domingo, 2003. pg 205 Upon arriving in his hometown, Bonilla establishes a workshop in his home, which survives today as a historical landmark named "La Casa del Pintor" (The Painter's House). Portrait artist to many influential residents of the capital's society, he painted the first of two oil portraits of national hero Juan Pablo Duarte in 1887, produced from memory since Duarte was living in Venezuela at the time, in exile. This first painting was originally shipped to Venezuela, where Duarte's family lived. Bonilla's representations of Duarte were the basis for later paintings and sculptures by

Luis Desangles Luis Desangles Lubiles (8 February 1861, Santo Domingo – 13 April 1940, Santiago de Cuba) was a Dominican Republic, Dominican painter, sculptor, and educator born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Instructor to many of the great native arti ...

(1861-1940) and

Abelardo Rodríguez Urdaneta Abelardo Rodríguez Urdaneta (June 24, 1870 – January 11, 1933) was a Dominican people (Dominican Republic), Dominican sculptor, photographer, painter and educator. A prolific artist, he was one of the first successful multidisciplinary artists ...

(1870-1933). Many of his other works are depictions of the country's urban spaces, and the environments of old towns in sentimental compositions.

Gallery

File:El Puerto sobre el Río Ozama.png, El Puerto sobre el Río Ozama. Alejandro Bonilla 1868 File:Fúnebre entierro de Sánchez.png, Fúnebre entierro de Sánchez File:Fernando-Arturo-Merino.png, Portrait of Fernando Arturo de Meriño. Bonilla, without date File:1895-virgin-altagracia-Bonilla.png, Virgen de Altagracia. Alejandro Bonilla. Finished in 1895 File:1890-Marchena.jpg, Retrato de Rafael de Marchena y de Solá. Alejandro Bonilla. Finished in 1890 File:1887-duarte-Bonilla.jpg, Juan Pablo Duarte. Alejandro Bonilla. Finished in 1887.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonilla, Alejandro 1820 births 1901 deaths People from Santo Domingo Male painters Dominican Republic male artists Dominican Republic independence activists People of the Dominican War of Independence 19th-century Dominican Republic artists 19th-century male artists Landscape painters