Julio Vila y Prades (9 April 1873,

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 ...

- 9 July 1930,

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

) was a Spanish painter and muralist who also worked throughout Latin America.

Biography

Against his parents wishes, he began his artistic studies at the

Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Carlos The Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Carlos de Valencia (Spanish for ''Saint Charles Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Valencia'') has been a Spanish Art school in Valencia since 1768. History The institution is deemed to be the follow-on instit ...

with

Francisco Domingo Marqués Francisco José Domingo y Marqués (12 March 1842 – 22 July 1920) was a Spanish painter in the Eclectic style. Biography He was born in Valencia, where he began his studies at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Carlos, as a student of ...

and

Joaquín Agrasot Joaquín Agrasot y Juan (24 December 1836 – 8 January 1919) was a Spanish painter of the Realistic style who produced many works in the Costumbrismo genre. Biography Agrasot was born in Orihuela. His studies began in his home town and, i ...

. He then went to Madrid and was an assistant in the workshop of

Joaquín Sorolla Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida ( va, Joaquim Sorolla i Bastida, 27 February 1863 – 10 August 1923) was a Spanish Valencian painter. Sorolla excelled in the painting of portraits, landscapes and monumental works of social and historical themes. Hi ...

from 1893 to 1904.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 ...

. He was a frequent participant at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts, where he took honorable mention in 1892 and 1897 and won a medal in 1904 for his painting, ''On Rice''. That same year, he went to Paris and spent a short time studying at the

Académie Julian The Académie Julian () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907) that was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number a ...

. Expressing a desire to visit South America, his friend Sorolla contacted the Catalan businessman and art promoter, José Artal (1862-1918), who was based in Buenos Aires.Brief biography
by María Luisa García Serrano @ the

Carmen Thyssen Museum The Carmen Thyssen Museum (Museo Carmen Thyssen Málaga) is an art museum in the Spanish city Málaga. The main focus of the museum is 19th-century Spanish painting, predominantly Andalusian, based on the collection of Carmen Cervera, fifth wife of ...

. With his support, Vila went to Argentina, where he painted landscapes 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 ...

scenes on the

pampas The Pampas (from the qu, pampa, meaning "plain") are fertile South American low grasslands that cover more than and include the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos, and Córdoba; all of Uruguay; and Brazil ...

. He returned to Europe in 1906, spending some time in Brittany, then visiting Madrid, where he made drawings at the wedding of King

Alfonso XIII Alfonso XIII (17 May 1886 – 28 February 1941), also known as El Africano or the African, was King of Spain from 17 May 1886 to 14 April 1931, when the Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed. He was a monarch from birth as his father, Alfo ...

. In 1908, following the death of his mother, he went back to Buenos Aires and married José (soon to be "Count") Artal's daughter, Carmen, who was fifteen years his junior. Over the next few years, he travelled throughout Argentina, receiving several commissions for decorative works, including the ceiling at the

Tigre Club The Tigre Club stands on the banks of the Luján River, in ''Paseo Victorica'', Tigre, near Buenos Aires, Argentina. The club, built next to the Tigre Hotel (demolished in 1940), was financed by Ernesto Tornquist and was designed by the archit ...

, and murals at the

Plaza Hotel The Plaza Hotel (also known as The Plaza) is a luxury hotel and condominium apartment building in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is located on the western side of Grand Army Plaza, after which it is named, just west of Fifth Avenue, a ...

and the

Tucumán Government Palace The Tucumán Government Palace is the executive office building of the Government of the Province of Tucumán. Overview Tucumán Province, the most populous and economically important in the Argentine Northwest, lacked architecturally significant ...

. He also produced numerous portraits. Plans to move to Paris were quashed by the beginning of World War I and his family settled in

San Sebastián San Sebastian, officially known as Donostia–San Sebastián (names in both local languages: ''Donostia'' () and ''San Sebastián'' ()) is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality located in the Basque Country (autonomous community), B ...

instead. He continued to travel, however, working in New York, Havana, Caracas and Mexico City. He returned to Spain in 1921 and painted the ceiling of the new Gran Kursaal de San Sebastián (since demolished). After that, he went to Peru, to do on-site sketches for a mural of the

Battle of Ayacucho The Battle of Ayacucho ( es, Batalla de Ayacucho, ) was a decisive military encounter during the Peruvian War of Independence. This battle secured the independence of Peru and ensured independence for the rest of South America. In Peru it is co ...

, to be placed in the new

Bolivarian Museum The Bolivarian Museum (Spanish: ''Museo Bolivariano'') is dedicated to Simón Bolívar, the hero of Latin American independence. It is situated in Caracas, Venezuela. The museum is run in tandem with the birthplace of Simón Bolívar next door. Th ...

in Caracas. The year 1924 found him in San Francisco, painting a ceiling mural, ''The Apotheosis of the California Soldier'', for the theater at the

Legion of Honor The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

museum. In 1928, he moved his workshop to Barcelona, so his wife could be closer to her family. That same year, the Peruvian government awarded him the Order of the Sun, although the mural that had been commissioned would remain unfinished at his death, two years later.

Selected paintings

JVP 1913 Una española con mantilla.jpg, Spanish Woman with

Mantilla A mantilla is a traditional Spanish and Latin American liturgical lace or silk veil or shawl worn over the head and shoulders, often over a high comb called a '' peineta'', popular with women in Spain, as well as in Latin America. It is also wor ...

File:JVP Niño con naranjas.jpg, Boy with Oranges File:JVP 1905 Retrato de dama con perro.jpg, Woman with Dog File:Cruce de los Andes.jpg,

Army of the Andes The Army of the Andes ( es, Ejército de los Andes) was a military force created by the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (Argentina) and mustered by general José de San Martín in his campaign to free Chile from the Spanish Empire. In 181 ...

Crossing the Cordillera

References

External links

ArtNet: More works by Vila.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vila y Prades, Julio 1873 births 1930 deaths 19th-century Spanish painters 19th-century Spanish male artists Spanish male painters 20th-century Spanish painters 20th-century Spanish male artists Spanish portrait painters Spanish muralists Recipients of the Order of the Sun of Peru