José Marcelo Contreras y Muñoz (16 January 1827 – 1890/92) was a Spanish painter and art professor. Largely remembered as a painter of historical scenes, he also created portraits and

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

works.

Biography

He was born in

Granada Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...

. His father, José Contreras Osorio (1794–1874), was an architect.Manuel Ossorio y Bernard, ''Galería biográfica de artistas españoles del siglo XIX'', Imprenta de Moreno y Rojas (1884)
Online
Initially dedicated to a career in business, he displayed a talent for art and began his training at the in Granada. He then worked in the studios of and . Following his graduation in 1847, he transferred to 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 acad ...

in Madrid, where he studied with

Federico de Madrazo Federico de Madrazo y Kuntz (9 February 181510 June 1894) was a Spanish painter. Biography Born in Rome, he was the son of José de Madrazo y Agudo, the painter and former Director of the Prado Museum. Federico's grandfather on his mother side ...

and

Juan Antonio Ribera Juan Antonio Ribera Fernandez, also Juan Antonio de Ribera (May 27, 1779 – June 15, 1860) was a Spanish painter. Early life and career Ribera was born in Madrid, was a student of Francisco Bayeu y Subías, and probably had on occasion met with ...

.Brief biography
@ 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 ...

In 1854, he moved to Córdoba, where he had been appointed Director of the provincial museum. He spent two years preparing a catalog of the museum's collection, then briefly returned to Granada to marry Francisca Vilches. Back in Córdoba, he began accepting commissions from the local nobility. In 1860, he applied for several open teaching positions. After 1861, he devoted himself primarily to teaching, initially at the Escuela de Bellas Artes in

Cádiz Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia. Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...

, then at a similar institution in

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

. During this time, he also held his first successful showings. In 1864, he participated in the National Exhibition of Fine Arts, presenting ''The Doubt of Saint Peter'', with which he won a second-class medal. It was later purchased by the

and, once again, he had clients among the nobility. The following year, grieving the death of his wife, he and his children relocated to Madrid, where he was named a Professor at the Academia. There, he became a regular participant in the National Exhibition, and began doing decorative work; including the curtain at the , a ceiling at the , the curtain and ceilings at the , and various decorations at the

Basilica of San Francisco el Grande 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 was named a Commander in the

Order of Isabel the Catholic The Order of Isabella the Catholic ( es, Orden de Isabel la Católica) is a Spanish civil order and honor granted to persons and institutions in recognition of extraordinary services to the homeland or the promotion of international relations a ...

. Contreras died in Grenada ca. 1890–1892.

References

External links

More works by Contreras
@ ArtNet {{DEFAULTSORT:Contreras, Jose Marcelo 1827 births 1890s deaths Year of death uncertain Spanish painters History painters Spanish genre painters Decorative arts Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando alumni People from Granada