375px, The Painter's Studio José del Castillo (14 October 1737,

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

- 5 October 1793, Madrid) was a Spanish painter and engraver in the Neoclassical style. Many of his paintings were done for tapestries.

Life and work

At the age of ten, he became an assistant in the preparatory drawing classes at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando. He showed so much promise that, in 1751, the Secretary of State, José de Carvajal y Lancaster, personally provided him with the funds to go to Rome and study under the direction of Corrado Giaquinto. In 1753, when Giaquinto was called to Spain by King

Ferdinand VI , house = Bourbon-Anjou , father = Philip V of Spain , mother = Maria Luisa of Savoy , birth_date = 23 September 1713 , birth_place = Royal Alcazar of Madrid, Madrid, Spain , death_date = , death_place = Villavici ...

, Castillo returned with him and returned to the Academia, where he won a gold medal in 1756. Two years later, he received an official stipend to continue his studies in Rome, where he was married. After completing his studies, he went back to Madrid, travelling through Italy in the company of

Juan de Villanueva Juan de Villanueva (September 15, 1739 in Madrid – August 22, 1811) was a Spanish architect. Alongside Ventura Rodríguez, Villanueva is the best known architect of Spanish Neoclassicism. Biography His father was the sculptor Juan de Villa ...

. He arrived there in 1764. He immediately joined the

Royal Tapestry Factory The Royal Tapestry Factory (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 after Spain lost its Belgian territo ...

; painting the designs and "cartones" (cartoons), under the stylistic direction of Anton Raphael Mengs. This would become his primary occupation. He originally copied works by other artists, such as Luca Giordano and his mentor, Giaquinto, but later created his own, based on scenes from daily life. He did execute an occasional religious painting, such as a depiction of

Saint Dominic Saint Dominic ( es, Santo Domingo; 8 August 1170 – 6 August 1221), also known as Dominic de Guzmán (), was a Castilian Catholic priest, mystic, the founder of the Dominican Order and is the patron saint of astronomers and natural scientis ...

and

Saint Francis St. Francis or Saint Francis may refer to: Roman Catholic saints *Francis of Assisi (1181–1226), Italian founder of the Order of Friars Minor (Franciscans) *Francis of Paola (1416–1507), Italian (Calabrian) founder of the Order of the Minims * ...

embracing (1783), which is at the

Basilica of San Francisco el Grande, Madrid The Royal Basilica of Saint Francis the Great ( es, Real Basílica de San Francisco el Grande) is a Roman Catholic church in central Madrid, Spain, located in the neighborhood of Palacio. The main façade faces the Plaza of San Francisco, at the ...

. He also did some book illustrations: notably drawings for the 1780 edition of '' Don Quixote'', which were engraved by

Manuel Salvador Carmona Manuel Salvador Carmona (20 May 1734 – 15 October 1820) was a Spanish engraver, designer and illustrator. Two of his brothers were also artists: , a sculptor, and Juan Antonio Salvador Carmona, also an engraver. Biography Carmona was born in ...

and Fernando Selma. In 1785, he was named an Academician of Merit at the Academia, but failed in his efforts to become a "Painter to the King". He also sought to become Director of the tapestry factory, with the support of Count Floridablanca, but was opposed by the painter

Ramón Bayeu Ramón Bayeu y Subías (2 December 1744, Zaragoza – 1 March 1793, Aranjuez) was a Spanish Neoclassicist painter; known primarily for his work in tapestry design. Biography His father made surgical instruments and barbers' tools. He was the br ...

, who had the support of Count Aranda, a court favorite. Shortly after Bayeu's death (and not long before his own), he tried again, with recommendations from several artists, but was still unsuccessful and the post was left vacant.José Delamano, ''José del Castillo'', Madrid Art Gallery
Online
/ref> He also did restorative work at the

Palacio del Buen Retiro Buen Retiro Palace (Spanish: ''Palacio del Buen Retiro'') in Madrid was a large palace complex designed by the architect Alonso Carbonell (c. 1590–1660) and built on the orders of Philip IV of Spain as a secondary residence and place of recre ...

. Many of his sketches and engravings document works by other artists which have since been lost.

References

External links

Scholarly articles
in English about José del Castillo both in web an
PDF
@ th
Spanish Old Masters Gallery

Castillo, José
in the Enciclopedia online @ 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 ...

Digitalized works
in the Biblioteca Digital Hispánica @ the

Biblioteca Nacional de España The Biblioteca Nacional de España (''National Library of Spain'') is a major public library, the largest in Spain, and one of the largest in the world. It is located in Madrid, on the Paseo de Recoletos. History The library was founded by ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Castillo, Jose del 1737 births 1793 deaths 18th-century Spanish painters 18th-century Spanish male artists Spanish male painters Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando alumni

Life and work

References

Further reading

External links