Bernardino Montañés y Perez (20 May 1825 – 6 January 1893) was an Aragonese painter.

Early life

Montañés was born in

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

on 20 May 1825.

Career

His began studying art at the School of Fine Arts in Zaragoza and, later, at the

Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando The Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando (RABASF; ), located on the Calle de Alcalá in the centre of Madrid, currently functions as a museum and gallery. A public law corporation, it is integrated together with other Spanish royal aca ...

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. In 1848, the government of

Isabella II Isabella II (, María Isabel Luisa de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias; 10 October 1830 – 9 April 1904) was Queen of Spain from 1833 until her deposition in 1868. She is the only queen regnant in the history of unified Spain. Isabella wa ...

granted him a scholarship to complete his artistic training in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

from 1848 to 1852. While in Rome, he became friends with fellow artists Felipe Moratilla, Carlos Múgica, Francisco Lameyer,

Francisco Jareño Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''. Meaning of the name Francisco In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed "Paco". San Francisco de Asís was known as ''Pater Commu ...

, Patricio Patiño and Miguel Floyxench. In the 1850s he traveled to

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Upon his return to Spain, he became an assistant drawing teacher at the Madrid Academy, until becoming full professor in 1859 and director in 1886. He also served as curator of the

Zaragoza Museum Zaragoza Museum (Spanish - ''Museo de Zaragoza'') is a national museum in the Plaza de los Sitios in the city of Zaragoza in Spain. Its collections range from the Lower Palaeolithic to the modern era and include archaeology, fine arts, ethnology ...

for several years.

Artistic style

Montañés' work has been considered eclectic, combining elements of

neoclassicism Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative arts, decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiq ...

and

rococo Rococo, less commonly Roccoco ( , ; or ), also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpte ...

. He was highly sought after by Aragonese society and most of his artistic output was portraits and religious paintings. An important aspect of his work was developed around 1872, when the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Pillar was completed. Montañés was asked to paint some pictures of the main dome, and ended up painting around six. Among these stands out is ''

Coronation of the Virgin A coronation ceremony marks the formal investiture of a monarch with regal power using a crown. In addition to the crowning, this ceremony may include the presentation of other items of regalia, and other rituals such as the taking of special ...

''. Today, his work can be found in the

and

Prado Museum The Museo del Prado ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It houses collections of European art, dating from the 12th century to the early 20th century, based on ...

, both in Madrid, and in the collection of the Provincial Deputation of Zaragoza.

Paintings in the Prado Museum

Fernando II de Aragón (Museo del Prado).jpg,

Ferdinand II of Aragon Ferdinand II, also known as Ferdinand I, Ferdinand III, and Ferdinand V (10 March 1452 – 23 January 1516), called Ferdinand the Catholic, was King of Aragon from 1479 until his death in 1516. As the husband and co-ruler of Queen Isabella I of ...

, Fruela I de Asturias (Museo del Prado).jpg,

Fruela I of Asturias Fruela I ( – 14 January 768), also referred to as Froila I and nicknamed "the Cruel," was the King of Asturias from 757 until his assassination. He was the eldest son of Alfonso I and continued his father's war against the Moors. Pelayo, the ...

, 1854 Chintila, rey de los Visigodos (Museo del Prado).jpg, Gothic king

Chintila Chintila (Latin: ''Chintila, Chintilla, Cintila''; 606 – 20 December 639) was a Visigothic King of Hispania, Septimania and Galicia from 636. He succeeded Sisenand and reigned until he died of natural causes, ruling over the fifth and sixth pr ...

, 1855 Sisenando, rey de los Visigodos (Museo del Prado).jpg,

Sisenand Sisenand ( Spanish, Galician, and Portuguese: ''Sisenando''; ) ( 605 – 12 March 636) was the Visigothic King of Hispania, Septimania and Galicia from 631 to 636. Reign Sisenand was the governor of Septimania, when the nobles revolted agains ...

King of the Visigoths The Visigothic Kingdom, Visigothic Spain or Kingdom of the Goths () was a barbarian kingdom that occupied what is now southwestern France and the Iberian Peninsula from the 5th to the 8th centuries. One of the Germanic successor states to the ...

, 1856 Gundemaro, rey de los Visigodos (Museo del Prado).jpg,

Gundemar Gundemar was a Visigothic King of Hispania, Septimania and Galicia (610–612). Reign Gundemar continued a policy of amity with Clotaire II of Neustria and Theodobert II of Austrasia. To this end, he sent grand sums of money to support their ...

, 1858

Personal life

Montañés died on 6 January 1893.

References

External links

Bernardino Montañés, 1825-1893: arte y erudición en la Edad de la Inocencia
by José Antonio Hernández Latas (2002) {{DEFAULTSORT:Montañés, Bernardino 1825 births 1895 deaths Artists from Zaragoza 19th-century Spanish painters 19th-century Spanish male artists Spanish male painters Painters from Aragon