Rafael Ximeno y Planes (1759–1807 or 1825) was a Spanish painter and draughtsman 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 ...

and deceased in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

(by then a colony of

New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the Am ...

Biography

He was the son of a silversmith and first learned the painter's profession from his maternal uncle Luis Planes. Later he studied at the Real Academia de San Fernando in Madrid thanks to a scholarship. He also studied in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

in 1783. In 1786 he was appointed vice-director (teniente director) of the Real Academia de San Carlos of Valencia,Museo del Prado, ‘Ximeno y Planes, Rafael – Colección – Museo Nacional del Prado’, ''Museo del Prado''. https://www.museodelprado.es/coleccion/artista/ximeno-y-planes-rafael/3783506f-3546-4aa4-8b79-8a722a3dabe1?searchMeta=rafael ccessed 10/07/2018/ref> and in 1793 he moved to Mexico City as the vice-director of the School of Fine Arts. In addition to academic canvases, Ximeno also created the frescos in the churches of Jesús María and La Profesa, in Mexico City. His fresco ‘The Assumption of the Virgin’ can be found in the dome of Catedral Metropolitana de Ciudad de México. Some of his work also appears in the Basílica de la Asunción, in the town of Cieza, Spain. Throughout his career, he made drawings which were preparatory for prints. Notable among these are his illustrations for the very popular first Spanish translation of ''

Robinson Crusoe ''Robinson Crusoe'' () is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. The first edition credited the work's protagonist Robinson Crusoe as its author, leading many readers to believe he was a real person and the book a tra ...

'', by

Tomás de Iriarte Tomás may refer to: * Tomás (given name) Tomás is a Spanish, Portuguese, and Irish (also in the archaic forms ''Thomaz'', ''Thomás'' and '' Tomaz'') given name equivalent of ''Thomas''. It may refer to: * Tomás de Anchorena (1783–1847), ...

(1750–91), published 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 ...

in 1789 (which is in fact a translation not of Daniel Defoe's original text, but of

Joachim Heinrich Campe Joachim Heinrich Campe (29 June 1746 – 22 October 1818) was a German writer, linguist, educator and publisher. He was a major representative of philanthropinism and the German Enlightenment. Life Born to the merchant Burchard Hilmar Campe and ...

’s adaptation, published in Hamburg 1779–80). Four of these preparatory drawings by Rafael Ximeno y Planes are preserved in the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

. There are also drawings by José Juan Camarón y Meliá (1760–1819) for this edition of ''Robinson Crusoe'' in the British Library. More prints after drawings by Ximeno y Planes appear as illustrations in two editions of ''

Don Quixote is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of Wester ...

'', one published by the Real Academia de la Lengua in Madrid (now Real Academia Española) and printed by Ibarra in 1780, and another published by Gabriel de Sancha between 1797 and 1798. In 1779 he illustrated an edition of '' Crónica de Juan II'' by

Hernando del Pulgar Hernando del Pulgar (1436 – c. 1492) was a Castilian royal secretary, historian, and writer. He first served in the administration of Enrique IV of Castile and later was appointed by Isabel I to serve as her royal chronicler. His best known wor ...

. The artist is also known for the engraved portraits of

Charles IV of Spain , 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 = ...

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, ...

and

Pedro Calderón de la Barca Pedro Calderón de la Barca y Barreda González de Henao Ruiz de Blasco y Riaño (, ; ; 17 January 160025 May 1681) was a Spanish dramatist, poet, writer and knight of the Order of Santiago. He is known as one of the most distinguished Baroque w ...

, appearing in the series ''Retratos de Españoles Ilustres'',Ibid. nos. 1712–19 engraved by

Mariano Brandi Mariano is a masculine name from the Romance languages, corresponding to the feminine Mariana. It is an Italian, Spanish and Portuguese variant of the Roman Marianus which derived from Marius, and Marius derived from the Roman god Mars (see also ...

, for which he drew the designs''.'' Museo Nacional de Arte, Mexico City The Museo Nacional de Arte (MUNAL) ( en, National Museum of Art) is the Mexican national art museum, located in the historical center of Mexico City. The museum is housed in a neoclassical building at No. 8 Tacuba, Col. Centro, Mexico City. It ...

Biography

References