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Francisco Bayeu y Subías (9 March 1734,
Zaragoza
Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...
– 4 August 1795,
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...
) was a
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
painter in the
Neoclassic style, whose main subjects were religious and historical themes. He is best known for his
frescoes. His brothers
Ramón and
Manuel were also well-known painters.
Biography
His father made surgical instruments and barbers' tools. He received a broad childhood education, possibly from the
Jesuits
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders = ...
. His initial art studies were with a local master,
José Luzán
José Luzán (1710 – 1785), also José Luzán y Martínez, was a Spanish Baroque painter.
Son of the painter and gilder of retablos Juan Luzán, Luzán married Teresa, daughter of John Zabalo, who was also a painter and designer of altarp ...
(who had studied with
Francesco Solimena in
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
),
Antonio González Velázquez, for whom he worked as an assistant, and . In 1758, when Francisco received a scholarship to study in Madrid, 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 heart of Madrid, currently functions as a museum and gallery. A public law corporation, it is integrated together with other Spanish royal acade ...
, his siblings followed; having been orphaned. González, who was then living in Madrid, helped support the family. While there, he created some religious works; notably at the
Charterhouse of Aula Dei.
He was expelled in 1759, after conflicts with his instructors, so he returned to Zaragoza with Ramón, who became his first student. Shortly after his return, he married Sebastiana Merklein, his former teacher's daughter. The marriage was intended as an introduction to society, and commissions soon followed.
In 1763, he was recalled to Madrid by
Anton Raphael Mengs
Anton Raphael Mengs (22 March 1728 – 29 June 1779) was a German painter, active in Dresden, Rome, and Madrid, who while painting in the Rococo period of the mid-18th century became one of the precursors to Neoclassical painting, which replace ...
, to help decorate the
Royal Palace. That same year, was given a position at the
Royal Tapestry Factory
The Royal Tapestry Factory (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Real Fábrica de Tapices de Santa Bárbara'') is a manufacturing plant located in Madrid, Spain, which was founded in 1720.
History
The factory was founded by Philip V of Spain, Philip V ...
by King
Charles III
Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person t ...
. There, together with Ramón, he created designs and "cartones" (cartoons). He also re-enrolled at the Academia. In 1766, he received a scholarship to study in Italy. In addition to his tapestry work, he executed numerous decorative paintings at various palaces and churches. In later years, one of his colleagues was
Francisco Goya
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, and e ...
, who had married his sister,
Josefa Bayeu
Josefa Bayeu y Subías (1747 – 1812) was the sister of artist Francisco Bayeu, and wife of artist Francisco Goya
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 April 1828) was a Spanish Romanticism, romantic painter and Printmak ...
.
He was named a professor and Lieutenant-Director of the Academia in 1765, and was appointed a
court painter
A court painter was an artist who painted for the members of a royal or princely family, sometimes on a fixed salary and on an exclusive basis where the artist was not supposed to undertake other work. Painters were the most common, but the cour ...
in 1767. After several applications, he became Director of Painting at the Academia in 1788. The death of his brother Ramón, to whom he had been very close, caused his already poor health to deteriorate even further. He was finally named Director of the Academia in 1795, shortly before his death from what contemporaries describe as an "agonizing disease"; possibly the same
lead poisoning that had afflicted Ramón.
Sources
* Morales y Marín, J.L., ''Francisco Bayeu, vida y obra,'' Zaragoza, Moncayo, 1995.
* '' El arte de los Bayeu,'' Expo 92 (Sevilla). Pabellón de Aragón, 1991.
* ''Los Bayeu,'' Caja de Ahorros y Monte de Piedad de Zaragoza, Aragón y Rioja (Ibercaja, Obra Social y Cultural), 1979.
* Sambricio, V. De, ''Francisco Bayeu,'' Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 1956.
Francisco Bayeuin the Enciclopedia en Línea @ the
Museo del Prado.
External links
Biography@ the ''
Catholic Encyclopedia
The ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'' (also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedia'') i ...
''
Scholarly articlesabout Francisco Bayeu both in web an
PDF@ th
Spanish Old Masters Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bayeu, Francisco
1734 births
1795 deaths
People from Zaragoza
18th-century Spanish painters
18th-century Spanish male artists
Spanish male painters
Court painters
Spanish neoclassical painters