Mariano Salvador Maella - Autorretrato - Google Art Project

Mariano Salvador Maella Pérez (21 August 1739 – 10 May 1819) was a Spanish painter known primarily for his portraits and religious frescoes.

Biography

Maella was born 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 ...

. His artistic education began with his father, who was also a painter. In 1752, at the age of eleven, he moved to Madrid and received lessons from Felipe de Castro, a sculptor who helped introduce the Neoclassical style to Spain.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 ...

. This was followed by enrollment at 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 ...

, where he attracted the attention of

Antonio González Velázquez Antonio González Velázquez (1723–1793) was a Spanish late-Baroque painter. Biography Velázquez was born in Madrid into a family of artists; his father Pablo González Velázquez and brothers Alejandro and Luis were all painters. He received ...

(whose daughter he would later marry). In 1757, with the money from three prizes awarded by the Academia and the support of his family, he was able to study in Rome. He returned to Spain in 1765 and participated in the remodeling of 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

Anton Raphael Mengs Anton Raphael Mengs (22 March 1728 – 29 June 1779) was a German people, German painter, active in Dresden, Rome, and Madrid, who while painting in the Rococo period of the mid-18th century became one of the precursors to Neoclassicism, Neoclas ...

, who had a significant influence on his style. In 1772, he created illustrations for a new edition of works by

Francisco de Quevedo Francisco Gómez de Quevedo y Santibáñez Villegas, Knight of the Order of Santiago (; 14 September 1580 – 8 September 1645) was a Spanish nobleman, politician and writer of the Baroque era. Along with his lifelong rival, Luis de Góngora, ...

. His career in Madrid began in earnest when he was appointed a

court painter A court painter was an artist who painted for the members of a royal or princely family, sometimes on a fixed salary and on an exclusive basis where the artist was not supposed to undertake other work. Painters were the most common, but the cour ...

in 1774 and became well known for his portraits.Brief biography
@ MCN Biografías. He not only worked at the Palacio Real, but at

La Granja de San Ildefonso San Ildefonso (), La Granja (), or La Granja de San Ildefonso, is a town and municipality in the Province of Segovia, in the Castile and León autonomous region of central Spain. It is located in the foothills of the Sierra de Guadarrama mounta ...

, the Palacio de El Pardo and the Palacio de El Escorial as well. In addition, he restored works by

Juan de Borgoña Juan de Borgoña (c. 1470–1536), was a High Renaissance painter who was born in the Duchy of Burgundy, probably just before it ceased to exist as an independent state, and was active in Spain from about 1495 to 1536. His earliest documented ...

at the

Cathedral of Toledo , native_name_lang = , image = Toledo Cathedral, from Plaza del Ayuntamiento.jpg , imagesize = 300px , imagelink = , imagealt = , landscape = , caption ...

, painted frescoes at

Burgo de Osma Cathedral The Cathedral of Burgo de Osma is a Roman Catholic church located in El Burgo de Osma, central Spain. It is in the Gothic architectural style, and was constructed on an area previously occupied by a Romanesque church. It is one of the best prese ...

and created designs for the

Royal Tapestry Factory The Royal Tapestry Factory (Spanish: ''Real Fábrica de Tapices de Santa Bárbara'') is a manufacturing plant located in Madrid, Spain, which was founded in 1720. History The factory was founded by Philip V after Spain lost its Belgian territo ...

; where he also served as a supervisor for the new artists. From 1795 to 1798, following the death of

Francisco Bayeu Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''. Nicknames In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed "Paco". San Francisco de Asís was known as ''Pater Comunitatis'' (father of ...

, he served as Director General of the Academia. In 1799, he and

Francisco Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, and ...

were named as primary court painters and he began to work on the restoration of several Royal sites. After the fall of King

Carlos IV , house = Bourbon-Anjou , father = Charles III of Spain , mother =Maria Amalia of Saxony , birth_date =11 November 1748 , birth_place =Palace of Portici, Portici, Naples , death_date = , death_place ...

in 1808, he did not hesitate to switch his allegiance to the new French government of King

José I Dom Joseph I ( pt, José Francisco António Inácio Norberto Agostinho, ; 6 June 1714 – 24 February 1777), known as the Reformer (Portuguese: ''o Reformador''), was King of Portugal from 31 July 1750 until his death in 1777. Among other activ ...

and received the King's hospitality in return. This eventually led to the end of his career. When King

Fernando VII , house = Bourbon-Anjou , father = Charles IV of Spain , mother = Maria Luisa of Parma , birth_date = 14 October 1784 , birth_place = El Escorial, Spain , death_date = , death_place = Madrid, Spain , burial_pla ...

took the throne, Maella was accused of being

afrancesado ''Afrancesado'' (, ; "Francophile" or "turned-French", lit. "Frenchified" or "French-alike") refers to the Spanish and Portuguese partisan of Enlightenment ideas, Liberalism or the French Revolution. In principle, ''afrancesados'' were upper-and ...

, dismissed from the court, and retired with only a fifth of his salary, to be replaced by

Vicente López Portaña Vicente López Portaña, OIC (; September 19, 1772July 22, 1850) was a Spanish painter, considered one of the best portrait painters of his time. Early life Vicente López Portaña was born in Valencia on September 19, 1772. His parents wer ...

, one of his students. He died, aged 79, in

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 ...

Selected paintings

File:'St. Francis of Assisi Receiving the Stigmata' by Salvador Maella, LACMA.JPG,

Saint Francis of Assisi Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, better known as Saint Francis of Assisi ( it, Francesco d'Assisi; – 3 October 1226), was a Mysticism, mystic Italian Catholic Church, Catholic friar, founder of the Franciscans, and one of the most vener ...

Receiving the Stigmata File:Carlos III con el hábito de su Orden (Palacio Real de Madrid).jpg, King Carlos III, Wearing the uniform of his

Order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

File:Maella - Infanta Carlota Joaquina, Prado.jpg, Queen

Carlota Joaquina Don (honorific), Doña Carlota Joaquina Teresa Cayetana of Spain (25 April 1775 – 7 January 1830) was List of Portuguese royal consorts, Queen of Portugal and List of Brazilian royal consorts, Brazil as the wife of King Dom John VI of Portugal, ...

File:Maella-el embarque-prado.jpg, The Embarcation File:San Carlos Borromeo, de Mariano Salvador Maella (Banco de España).jpg,

Saint Carlo Borromeo Charles Borromeo ( it, Carlo Borromeo; la, Carolus Borromeus; 2 October 1538 – 3 November 1584) was the Archbishop of Milan from 1564 to 1584 and a cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was a leading figure of the Counter-Reformation combat a ...

References

External links

More works by Maella
@ the Biblioteca Digital Hispánica

by José Luis Morales y Marín from the ''Boletín de la Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando'' #69, 1989, digitalized @ the

Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes The Miguel de Cervantes Virtual Library (MCVL; in es, Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, BVMC) is a large-scale digital library project, hosted and maintained by the University of Alicante in Alicante, Spain. It comprises the largest open-acc ...

"Mariano Salvador Maella"
scholarly articles both in web and PDF @ the Spanish Old Masters Gallery {{DEFAULTSORT:Salvador Maella, Mariano 1739 births 1819 deaths People from Valencia Painters from the Valencian Community 18th-century Spanish painters 18th-century Spanish male artists Spanish male painters 19th-century Spanish painters 19th-century Spanish male artists Court painters Spanish portrait painters Fresco painters Tapestry artists Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando alumni Spanish textile artists

Biography

Selected paintings

References

Further reading

External links