Dionisio Fierros Álvarez (5 May 1827 – 24 June 1894) was a Spanish painter in the

Romantic Romantic may refer to: Genres and eras * The Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement of the 18th and 19th centuries ** Romantic music, of that era ** Romantic poetry, of that era ** Romanticism in science, of that e ...

style who specialized in historical and costumbrista scenes. For many years, he was a member of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando.

Biography

He was born in

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, but left his home town at the age of fourteen for Madrid, where he found a position as an apprentice to a tailor. Later, it is believed, he became a servant for the , who had an extensive art collection. When the Marqués discovered him copying some of the paintings, he was impressed and introduced Fierros to José de Madrazo. This may be apocryphal, but he did study with the Madrazos and make copies at the

Museo del Prado The Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It is widely considered to house one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from the ...

. He may also have studied in Paris and Italy. He made his exhibition début in 1858, with five portraits and three miscellaneous scenes, shown in Santiago de Compostela, where he was living at the time. At the National Exhibition of Fine Arts in 1860, he won a prize for his painting of a pilgrimage to Santiago and, in 1862, came in at second place for his depiction of people leaving a mass there. Over the next few years, he participated in several international exhibitions; winning a first-class medal at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. During this time, he also created a mural of the "Ecstasy of Saint Teresa" for the monastery at El Escorial. In 1886, his painting of a scene from the life of King Henry III was purchased by the Ministry of Public Works. From 1885 to 1889, he lived in

Galicia Galicia may refer to: Geographic regions * Galicia (Spain), a region and autonomous community of northwestern Spain ** Gallaecia, a Roman province ** The post-Roman Kingdom of the Suebi, also called the Kingdom of Gallaecia ** The medieval King ...

, painting portraits, landscapes and genre scenes on behalf of the "Real Sociedad Económica de Amigos de País de Santiago de Compostela". Five years after returning to Madrid, he died suddenly while on his way to attend a bullfight. In 1966, a major retrospective was held at the Ateneo de Madrid and, in 2000, another major showing was presented in Vigo.

Selected paintings

File:Dionisio Fierros, 1862, La salida de misa en una aldea de las cercanías de Santiago de Galicia.jpg, Leaving Mass in a village near Santiago File:Enrique III y los nobles.JPG, Henry III chastising his Noblemen File:Retrato del cardenal Miguel García Cuesta (Dionisio Fierros Álvarez)..jpg, Cardinal
Miguel García Cuesta File:La batalla de Tetuán (1894).jpg, The Battle of Tetuán

References

External links

ArtNet: More works by Fierros.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fierros, Dionisio 1827 births 1894 deaths 19th-century Spanish painters Spanish male painters Spanish portrait painters Spanish genre painters History painters People from Asturias 19th-century Spanish male artists