Juan Lovera on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Juan Lovera (11 July 1776,
@ Wikihistoria del Arte Venezolano. Later, he was apprenticed to Antonio José Landaeta (?-?), one of a family of influential
@ MCN Biografías. By 1799, he had his own workshop, where two of his first portrait sitters werePedro Lovera
@ Wikihistoria del Arte Venezolano. He was also a professor at the drawing academy. The Caracas art society, founded after his death in 1841, was partly inspired as a way of honoring his memory.
Juan Lovera (11 July 1776, Caracas
Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...
- 29 January 1841, Caracas) was a Venezuelan painter, best known for his portraits and historical scenes relating to his country's independence movement.
Biography
His father was theChandler
Chandler or The Chandler may refer to:
* Chandler (occupation), originally head of the medieval household office responsible for candles, now a person who makes or sells candles
* Ship chandler, a dealer in supplies or equipment for ships
Arts ...
of Caracas Cathedral
The Caracas Cathedral or Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Anne is the seat of the Roman Catholic Metropolitan archdiocese of Caracas, located on the Plaza Bolívar in Caracas, Venezuela. Its chapel of the Holy Trinity is the burial site of the pa ...
and he received his first art lessons at the Dominican convent of San Jacinto.Juan Lovera@ Wikihistoria del Arte Venezolano. Later, he was apprenticed to Antonio José Landaeta (?-?), one of a family of influential
Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
painters in 18th-Century Caracas.Brief biography@ MCN Biografías. By 1799, he had his own workshop, where two of his first portrait sitters were
Alexander von Humboldt
Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 17696 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, naturalist, explorer, and proponent of Romantic philosophy and science. He was the younger brother of the Prussian minister, p ...
and Aimé Bonpland
Aimé Jacques Alexandre Bonpland (; 22 August 1773 – 11 May 1858) was a French explorer and botanist who traveled with Alexander von Humboldt in Latin America from 1799 to 1804. He co-authored volumes of the scientific results of their ex ...
.
He fought for the cause of independence, which resulted in his persecution following the collapse of the First Venezuelan Republic in 1812. Two years later, when Caracas was invaded by the army of José Tomás Boves
José Tomás Boves (Oviedo, Asturias, September 18, 1782 – Urica, Venezuela, December 5, 1814), was a royalist caudillo of the Llanos during the Venezuelan War of Independence, particularly remembered for his use of brutality and atrociti ...
, he fled to Cumaná
Cumaná () is the capital city of Venezuela's Sucre State. It is located east of Caracas. Cumaná was one of the first cities founded by Spain in the mainland Americas and is the oldest continuously-inhabited Hispanic-established city in South ...
. Some accounts say he remained there, teaching art, others say he travelled through the West Indies. Either way, after Venezuela became part of Gran Colombia
Gran Colombia (, "Great Colombia"), or Greater Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia (Spanish: ''República de Colombia''), was a state that encompassed much of northern South America and part of southern Central America from 1819 to 18 ...
, he returned to Caracas.
In 1821, Carlos Soublette
Carlos Valentín José de la Soledad Antonio del Sacramento de Soublette y Jerez de Aristeguieta (15 December 1789 – 11 February 1870) was the president of Venezuela from 1837 to 1839 and 1843 to 1847 and a hero of the Venezuelan War of Ind ...
offered him the position of Corregidor
Corregidor ( tl, Pulo ng Corregidor, ) is an island located at the entrance of Manila Bay in the southwestern part of Luzon in the Philippines, and is considered part of the Province of Cavite. Due to this location, Corregidor has historically b ...
, which he reluctantly accepted and, one year later, was promoted to Alcalde ordinario
Alcalde ordinario refers to the judicial and administrative officials in the cabildos in the Spanish Viceroyalties in the Americas during the times of the Spanish Empire in the 16th through 19th centuries. Always existing in pairs, they were ca ...
. From 1821 to 1823, he also worked on decorating the meeting room of the Cabildo.
After 1824, he had a number of notable figures as portrait sitters, including José Antonio Páez
José Antonio Páez Herrera (; 13 June 1790 – 6 May 1873) was a Venezuelan leader who fought against the Spanish Crown for Simón Bolívar during the Venezuelan War of Independence. He later led Venezuela's independence from Gran Colombia.
H ...
, Cristóbal Mendoza
José Cristóbal Hurtado de Mendoza y Montilla (23 June 1772 – 8 February 1829), commonly known as Cristóbal Mendoza, was a Venezuelan lawyer, politician, writer, and academic. Cristobal is best known for serving as the first official Presid ...
, Simón Bolívar
Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios (24 July 1783 – 17 December 1830) was a Venezuelan military and political leader who led what are currently the countries of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Panama and B ...
and José María Vargas
José María Vargas Ponce (10 March 1786, in La Guaira – 13 April 1854, in New York City) was the president of Venezuela from 1835 to 1836. Vargas was Venezuela's first civilian president.
He graduated with a degree in philosophy from the S ...
. He was also an associate of General Francisco de Paula Avendaño (1792-1870), who established Venezuela's first lithograph
Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...
ic workshop in 1828.
His last years were devoted almost entirely to teaching. One of his most prominent students was Pedro Lovera (1826-1914), who was long believed to be his son, but may have been his nephew.@ Wikihistoria del Arte Venezolano. He was also a professor at the drawing academy. The Caracas art society, founded after his death in 1841, was partly inspired as a way of honoring his memory.
References
Further reading
* Carlos F. Duarte, ''Juan Lovera, el pintor de los próceres'' (painter of heroes), Fundación Pampero, 1985 * ''Juan Lovera y su tiempo'' (expanded from an exhibition catalog), Galería de Arte Nacional (Venezuela), 1981External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lovera, Juan Venezuelan painters People from Caracas 1776 births 1841 deaths Portrait painters