Arquitectos restauradores de la Catedral de León-Juan de Madrazo

Juan de Madrazo y Kuntz (1829,

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 ...

- 7 March 1880, Madrid) was a Spanish architect and restoration expert.

Life and work

He came from a family of illustrious painters. His father was the portrait painter,

José Madrazo José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced ...

. His brothers were the painters

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

Luis de Madrazo Luis de Madrazo y Kuntz (27 February 1825 – 9 February 1897) was a Spanish painter of portraits and religious scenes from a well-known family that included his father José (a painter), and his brothers Federico (also a painter), Pedro (an ar ...

. In what may have been an effort to stand out, he chose architecture over painting; becoming an apprentice at the

Palacio Real de Madrid The Royal Palace of Madrid ( es, Palacio Real de Madrid) is the official residence of the Spanish royal family at the city of Madrid, although now used only for state ceremonies. The palace has of floor space and contains 3,418 rooms. It is the ...

; under the direction of Domingo Lafuente, the official Palace Architect. He remained with Lafuente until, in 1846, he was able to become a student at the recently established

School of Architecture This is a list of architecture schools at colleges and universities around the world. An architecture school (also known as a school of architecture or college of architecture), is an institution specializing in architectural education. Africa ...

. After obtaining his degree in 1852, he held a Chair at the "School of Construction Masters" 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 ...

, where he taught composition and legal issues. In 1854, he returned to Madrid. There, he wrote a book on surveying and began another on popular architecture. In 1855, he became involved in an ambitious project to renovate the

Puerta del Sol The Puerta del Sol (English: "Gate of the Sun") is a public square in Madrid, one of the best known and busiest places in the city. This is the centre ('' Km 0'') of the radial network of Spanish roads. The square also contains the famous clo ...

, but it never came to fruition. He was one of the few architects in Madrid who designed buildings in the International Style, as developed by the French architect,

Eugène Viollet-le-Duc Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc (; 27 January 181417 September 1879) was a French architect and author who restored many prominent medieval landmarks in France, including those which had been damaged or abandoned during the French Revolution. H ...

. Many restoration projects were placed under his direction; perhaps the best known being the exterior decorations on the Church of Las Calatravas.Ramón Guerra de la Vega, (1993), ''Guía de Madrid: siglo XIX'', Vol. 1, He performed similar work on the

León Cathedral Santa María de Regla de León Cathedral is a Catholic church, the episcopal see of the diocese of León in north-western Spain, consecrated under the name of the Virgin Mary. It was the first monument declared by the Royal Order of Spain on ...

, for which he was posthumously awarded a medal of honor at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts in 1881. He died of a sudden, severe illness in 1880, at the age of fifty-one. His career was relatively short, so few examples of his original designs are in existence.

References

External links

Juan de Madrazo y Kuntz
from ''Arquitectura y Construccion'', 8 March 1900. {{DEFAULTSORT:Madrazo, Juan de 1829 births 1880 deaths Spanish architects Architectural conservation Architects from Madrid

Life and work

References

Further reading

External links