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 José is a predominantly Spanish and 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 , is an old vernacul ...

(a painter), and his brothers

Federico Federico (; ) is a given name and surname. It is a form of Frederick, most commonly found in Spanish, Portuguese and Italian. People with the given name Federico Artists * Federico Ágreda, Venezuelan composer and DJ. * Federico Aguilar Alcuaz, r ...

(also a painter),

Pedro Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for '' Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter. The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, mean ...

(an art critic) and

Juan ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...

(an architect).Caso, E.D., ''Les Orientalistes de l'école Espagnole,'' ACR edition, 1997, p. 158 His Polish grandfather Tadeusz Kuntze was a painter as well.Brief biography
@ MCN Biografías.

Biography

He was born 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 ...

, into a highly regarded family of artists. His father was

José de Madrazo José is a predominantly Spanish and 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 , is an old vernacu ...

, and his brothers were

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

Pedro de Madrazo Pedro de Madrazo y Kuntz (11 October 1816, Rome - 20 August 1898, Madrid) was a Spanish painter, jurist, writer, translator and art critic. Biography He came from an illustrious family of artists. His father was the painter José de Madrazo y ...

. His nephews

Raimundo de Madrazo y Garreta Raimundo de Madrazo y Garreta (24 July 1841 – 15 September 1920) was a Spanish painter from the Madrazo family of artists who worked in the Realistic style, although his later work shows signs of Rococo and Japanese influence. He was known pr ...

and

Ricardo de Madrazo Ricardo Federico de Madrazo y Garreta (7 February 1852 – 18 August 1917) was a Spanish painter from the Madrazo family of artists, best known for his Orientalist works. He was also the brother-in-law of the great Spanish Orientalist, Marian ...

both became notable painters. The Madrazo family have been described as one of the most important painting dynasties, who literally dominated 19th-century painting in Spain.''Los Madrazo, una familia de artistas: xhibition'' Museo Municipal, 1985 atálogo de la exposición, tapa del libro/ref> He and his brothers received their first art lessons in their father's studio. Later, he entered 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 ...

. In 1845, he found employment as an illustrator for the magazine ''Seminario Pintoresco Español''.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 ...

website. Several years later, he received a fellowship that enabled him to complete his studies in Rome and improve his style. At first, he attended the

Accademia di San Luca The Accademia di San Luca (the "Academy of Saint Luke") is an Italian academy of artists in Rome. The establishment of the Accademia de i Pittori e Scultori di Roma was approved by papal brief in 1577, and in 1593 Federico Zuccari became its fir ...

, then enrolled at the

French Academy in Rome The French Academy in Rome (french: Académie de France à Rome) is an Academy located in the Villa Medici, within the Villa Borghese, on the Pincio (Pincian Hill) in Rome, Italy. History The Academy was founded at the Palazzo Capranica in 1 ...

at the

Villa Medici The Villa Medici () is a Mannerist villa and an architectural complex with a garden contiguous with the larger Borghese gardens, on the Pincian Hill next to Trinità dei Monti in Rome, Italy. The Villa Medici, founded by Ferdinando I de' Medici, ...

. While there, he met Friedrich Overbeck and came under the influence of the

Nazarene movement The epithet Nazarene was adopted by a group of early 19th-century German Romantic painters who aimed to revive spirituality in art. The name Nazarene came from a term of derision used against them for their affectation of a biblical manner of c ...

. Following his studies in Rome, he toured Europe, living briefly in Paris, Munich, Venice and Berlin. In the early 1890s, he settled for a time in

Pompeii Pompeii (, ) was an ancient city located in what is now the ''comune'' of Pompei near Naples in the Campania region of Italy. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area (e.g. at Boscoreale, Stabiae), was buried ...

with two of his fellow painters from Spain. He returned to Madrid when the influence of his father and older brothers had gained him entry into that city's artistic circles, leading to the belief that his success was due entirely to his family's reputation. During this final period of his life, he primarily devoted himself to teaching and painting portraits of the nobility. He received the rank of Commander in the

Order of Isabel the Catholic The Order of Isabella the Catholic ( es, Orden de Isabel la Católica) is a Spanish civil order and honor granted to persons and institutions in recognition of extraordinary services to the homeland or the promotion of international relations a ...

and eventually became Director of the "Escuela Superior de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado de Madrid". Upon his death, in his home city of Madrid, he was succeeded by

Dióscoro Puebla Dióscoro Teófilo Puebla Tolín (25 February 1831 – 24 October 1901) was a Spanish painter in the Eclectic style who specialized in portraits, genre and history painting. Biography Puebla was born in Melgar de Fernamental. His first studi ...

Selected paintings

File:Retrato de Cecilia de Madrazo.jpg,

Cecilia de Madrazo Cecilia de Madrazo y Garreta (20 December 1846, in Madrid – August 1932, in Venice) was a noted collector of textiles. She was married to the famous Spanish artist, Marià Fortuny. Biography She was born into a family of artists. Her father, ...

File:Entierro de Santa Cecilia.jpg, Interment of

Saint Cecilia Saint Cecilia ( la, Sancta Caecilia), also spelled Cecelia, was a Roman virgin martyr and is venerated in Catholic, Eastern Orthodox Church, Orthodox, Anglican Communion, Anglican, and some Lutheran churches, such as the Church of Sweden. She b ...

in the

Roman Catacombs The Catacombs of Rome ( it, Catacombe di Roma) are ancient catacombs, underground burial places in and around Rome, of which there are at least forty, some rediscovered only in recent decades. Though most famous for Christian burials, either i ...

File:Madrazo y Kuntz 1850.jpg, Man Holding a Dagger File:Prim madrazo.jpeg,

Juan Prim Juan Prim y Prats, 1st Count of Reus, 1st Marquis of los Castillejos, 1st Viscount of Bruch (; ca, Joan Prim i Prats ; 6 December 1814 – 30 December 1870) was a Spanish general and statesman who was briefly Prime Minister of Spain until ...

References

External links

More works by Madrazo
@ ArtNet {{DEFAULTSORT:Madrazo, Luis de 1825 births 1897 deaths Spanish portrait painters 19th-century Spanish painters 19th-century Spanish male artists Spanish male painters Artists from Madrid Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando alumni Commanders of the Order of Isabella the Catholic Sibling artists