José Tomás Errázuriz Urmeneta (November, 1856 – 1 April 1927) was a

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

an landscape

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

and

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

Biography

He was born in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

, the son of Maximiano Errázuriz Valdivieso and of Amalia Urmeneta Quiroga. He studied painting at the Academy of Painting (Santiago, Chile), where he was a student of Ernesto Kirchbach and later juggled his diplomatic work in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, with art classes by an otherwise unknown painter named Humbert Giroez. He married Eugenia Huici, one of the most beautiful women of her age, who was to become a patron of modernism of the 20th Century and noted interior designer, and who was a decisive influence in his work. She soon convinced him to move to

in 1882, where his brother-in-law Ramón Subercaseaux Vicuña was the Chilean consul.
Biography of José Tomás Errázuriz Urmeneta @ the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (MNBA) Around 1900, the Errázurizes relocated to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. José Tomás Errázuriz fell sick with tuberculosis, spent much time in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, and eventually he and his wife became estranged. Nonetheless during this stay, he acquired for his art most of the characteristics of English painting, even though he was also a strong admirer of the French landscape tradition and painted many times the coast of

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

, where he lived for long periods of time. A sharp observer of nature, he painted views and scenes of the European countryside full of light and color. Errázuriz never adhered to the

impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

movement of the time, even though he was a close friend and admirer of realist painters such as

Giovanni Boldini Giovanni Boldini (31 December 1842 – 11 January 1931) was an Italian genre and portrait painter who lived and worked in Paris for most of his career. According to a 1933 article in ''Time'' magazine, he was known as the "Master of Swish" becaus ...

and

John Singer Sargent John Singer Sargent (; January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil paintings and more ...

. He always gave a principal and very strict preponderance to the drawing and the composition in his work. Errázuriz was never interested in signing or selling his work, and in 1926 sent most of his paintings to Chile to be auctioned off for charity.

Selected paintings

File:Errazuriz, Jose Tomas - Rafael Errazuriz 1891.jpg, Portrait of his brother Rafael File:Errazuriz, Jose Tomas - Gaviotas en el Tamesis.jpg, Seagulls on the River Thames File:Errazuriz, Jose Tomas - Campesina recostada.jpg, Peasant Woman Resting File:Errazuriz, Jose Tomas - Angustia.jpg, Anguish

References

External links

Short biography

Some examples of his worksGenealogical chart of Errázuriz family

Google about José Tomás Errázuriz Urmeneta
1856 births 1927 deaths J Chilean people of Basque descent People from Santiago Chilean diplomats 19th-century Chilean painters 19th-century Chilean male artists Chilean male artists 20th-century Chilean painters Chilean male painters Male painters 20th-century Chilean male artists Academy of Painting (Santiago, Chile) alumni {{Chile-diplomat-stub

Biography

Selected paintings

See also

References

External links