Francisco Antonio Cano (November 24, 1865 - May 10, 1935) was a very recognized Colombian painter, sculptor, writer, and engraver from Antioquia, who is famous for his works in which he portrays the cultural identity of the country and region. One of his best known works is ''Horizons'', which depicts the beginning of the colonization of Antioquia (1913) that took place during the second half of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He was a professor and director of the School of Fine Arts in Medellín and in

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...

. And also a mentor of other famous Colombian artists, such as

Pedro Nel Gómez Pedro Nel Gómez Agudelo (4 July 1899 — 6 June 1984) was a Colombian engineer, painter, and sculptor, best known for his work as a muralist, and for starting, along with Santiago Martinez Delgado, the Colombian Muralist Movement, inspired by ...

, Sergio Trujillo Magnenat and Marco Tobón Mejía.

Biography

Cano was born in the town of

Yarumal Yarumal is a municipality in the Antioquia Department, Colombia. The municipality (three parishes and 20 villages) has an area of , 35,315 inhabitants, and its average elevation is above sea level. It has a minor basilica, Our Lady of Mercy, ...

, Colombia, on November 24, 1865 to a poor family. He was son to José María Cano Álvarez and María Jesús Cardona y Villegas. He had a brother named José Ignacio. He submitted drawings and vignettes for the newspaper ''Yarumal Annals of the Club''. He received painting classes by Angel Maria Palomino and with Horacio Rodríguez Marino, he learned drawing techniques. He also took part in various important art exhibitions. In 1896, he married María Sanín. From 1898 to 1901, he received a scholarship to study in France, where he attended courses in Fine Arts at the

Académie Julian The Académie Julian () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907) that was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number a ...

and by

Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...

. When he returned to Colombia, he opened his own workshop. He was director and professor of the School of Fine Arts in Medellín and Bogotá, and a member of the Colombian Academy of Arts. He is the great-uncle of the painter Fernando Granda Cano. He died in Bogotá on May 10, 1935.

Works

Among his principal oils and watercolors are: The study of the painter, Mariano Ospina Rodríguez,

Pedro Justo Berrío Pedro Justo Berrío was a Colombian lawyer, soldier, and politician. He held several legislative positions throughout his life, including governor of Anitioquia from 1864 to 1873. He was born in the municipality of Santa Rosa de Osos of Antioqui ...

, Marcelino Vélez, The Apostle Paul, Mariano Montoya, Earthenware, Rafael Nunez, Still life of roses, Cristo del Perdon, Source of the observatory, Efe Gómez, the Girl of the Roses, The baptism of Christ, Horizons, The Virgin of the Lilies, Don Fidel Cano, Francisco Javier Cisneros, The voluptuousness of the sea, and Carolina Cárdenas portraits, among others. For the Church of San José, Cano created the fountain in the courtyard and the gilded altarpiece named ''Baptism of Jesus''.

''Horizons''

This oil painting is considered Cano's

masterpiece A masterpiece, ''magnum opus'' (), or ''chef-d’œuvre'' (; ; ) in modern use is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, ...

. ''Horizons'' epitomizes the idealized migrant family. It portrays a young, fair-skinned ''colono'' family — consisting of a husband, wife, and child — sitting on a bluff, surrounded by mountains. The three members of the family are likened to the

Holy family The Holy Family consists of the Child Jesus, the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph. The subject became popular in art from the 1490s on, but veneration of the Holy Family was formally begun in the 17th century by Saint François de Laval, the first ...

, with the woman dressed in blue and white like the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

, with a baby on her lap. The gaze of the wife, child, and father are in the direction of the man's outstretched hand, which evokes Michelangelo's

Creation of Adam Creation may refer to: Religion *''Creatio ex nihilo'', the concept that matter was created by God out of nothing * Creation myth, a religious story of the origin of the world and how people first came to inhabit it * Creationism, the belief tha ...

, and that points toward an unseen, distant horizon. His work has been copied and parodied several times by other artists and alumni. The original of Horizons is currently housed in the

Museum of Antioquia The Museum of Antioquia (''Museo de Antioquia'') is an art museum in Medellín, Colombia. It houses a large collection of works by Medellín native Fernando Botero and Pedro Nel Gómez. It was the first museum established in Antioquia departmen ...

.(e
museodeantioquia.co, ''El Museo recibió el Testamento espiritual de Francisco Antonio Cano.''
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Gallery

File:Horizontes (Horizonts) by Francisco Antonio Cano (1913).jpg, '' Horizons'' (1913)

References

External links

Biography from Luis Angel Arango Library ''(in Spanish)''
* (es

* (es)[http://www.banrepcultural.org/blaavirtual/textos-sobre-la-coleccion-de-arte-del-banco-de-la-republica/fernando-antoni-cano/la-voluptuosidad-del-mar banrepcultural.or, Francisco Antonio Cano ,''La voluptuosidad del mar (1924)''] {{DEFAULTSORT:Cardona, Francisco Antonio Cano 1865 births 1935 deaths Colombian artists Académie Julian alumni Colombian painters Colombian male painters Colombian sculptors 19th-century engravers 20th-century engravers