Eugenio Lucas Velázquez (9 February 1817 – 11 September 1870) was a Spanish painter in the Romantic style, known for

genre Genre () is any style or form 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 fo ...

and

costumbrista ''Costumbrismo'' (in Catalan: ''costumisme''; sometimes anglicized as costumbrism, with the adjectival form costumbrist) is Literary costumbrismo, the literary or pictorial interpretation of local everyday life, mannerisms, and customs, primari ...

scenes which often featured fantastic elements. Nineteenth-century sources refer to him as Eugenio Lucas Padilla, which has caused some confusion,Brief biography
@ the Museo del Prado. although it seems reasonable to assume that Velázquez was an adopted name. Few of his paintings are signed, causing a problem with attribution.

Biography

He was born to a middle-class family in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

and was originally a

cabinet-maker A cabinet is a case or cupboard with shelves or drawers for storing or displaying items. Some cabinets are stand alone while others are built in to a wall or are attached to it like a Bathroom cabinet, medicine cabinet. Cabinets are typically mad ...

. It is difficult to reconstruct his artistic studies. In the catalog accompanying his works at the

Exposition Universelle (1855) The of 1855 (), better known in English as the 1855 Paris Exposition, was a world's fair held on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, France, from 15 May to 15 November 1855. Its full official title was the . It was the first of ten major expositions ...

, he claims to have attended 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 centre of Madrid, currently functions as a museum and gallery. A public law corporation, it is integrated together with other Spanish royal aca ...

and studied with José de Madrazo, even though he had abandoned the

Classicism Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for a classical period, classical antiquity in the Western tradition, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. In its purest form, classicism is an aesthe ...

taught there. It is known that he displayed four works at the Academia in 1841 and spent long hours copying the paintings at the

Museo del Prado The Museo del Prado ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It houses collections of Art of Europe, European art, dating from the 12th century to the early 20th ce ...

; especially those of

Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 1746 – 16 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, an ...

and

Diego Velázquez Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (baptised 6 June 15996 August 1660) was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the Noble court, court of King Philip IV of Spain, Philip IV of Spain and Portugal, and of the Spanish Golden Age. He i ...

. He joined the National Militia in 1843 and was a member until the late 1850s. The following year, he married Martina Hernández Muñoz. In 1848, apparently suffering from financial difficulties, they went to live with her aunt, Vicenta. Within a year, thanks to some successful exhibitions, he had acquired commissions that enabled them to establish their own home. In 1850, he was one of the artists commissioned to provide decorations for the ceiling of the new

Teatro Real The Teatro Real () is an opera house in Madrid, Spain. Located at the Plaza de Oriente, opposite the Royal Palace, and known colloquially as "''El Real''" (The Royal One). it is considered the top institution of the performing and musical arts ...

(since painted over or removed). Queen

Isabel II Isabella II (, María Isabel Luisa de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias; 10 October 1830 – 9 April 1904) was Queen of Spain from 1833 until her deposition in 1868. She is the only queen regnant in the history of unified Spain. Isabella wa ...

attended the opening, named him an honorary

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 ...

, and made him a Knight in the

Order of Charles III The Royal and Distinguished Spanish Order of Charles III, originally Royal and Much Distinguished Order of Charles III (, originally ; Abbreviation, Abbr.: OC3) is a knighthood and one of the three preeminent Order of merit, orders of merit bes ...

. After that, most of his clients came from the upper nobility; most notably, the Marqués de Salamanca, who later had one of Goya's '' Black Paintings'' removed and placed in his palace. In 1852, he took a trip to Paris, possibly accompanied by his mistress, Francisca Villaamil, the sister of

Jenaro Pérez Villaamil Jenaro Pérez de Villaamil y d'Huguet (3 February 1807 – 5 June 1854) was a Spanish painter in the Romantic style who specialized in landscapes with figures and architectural scenes. He often inflated the scale of the buildings relative ...

. In Paris he came under the influence of Delacroix. The following year, he and his wife were separated. He and Francisca had four children, including the artist, Eugenio Lucas Villaamil. During the 1860s, he made several more trips to Paris, with visits to Switzerland and Italy. On one trip to Paris, it is said that he went to the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

and discovered that a painting attributed to Diego Velázquez was actually one of his. True or not, this could serve to explain his use of the name "Velázquez". In his later years, he was criticized as being a mere copier of Goya. He died on 11 September 1870 in Madrid.

Selected paintings

(Castres) Eugenio Lucas y Velàzquez - La Fusillade - Musée Goya.jpg, The Execution File:Condenados por la inquisicion 1860.jpg, Condemned by
the

Inquisition The Inquisition was a Catholic Inquisitorial system#History, judicial procedure where the Ecclesiastical court, ecclesiastical judges could initiate, investigate and try cases in their jurisdiction. Popularly it became the name for various med ...

File:Cogida en una capea de pueblo 1855.jpg, Goring at an
Amateur Bullfight File:Revolucion 1862.jpg, Revolution File:Mass (The Elevation), Eugenio Lucas Velázquez.jpg, Mass (The Elevation)

References

External links

ArtNet: More works by Lucas.Drawings by Lucas
@ the Biblioteca Digital Hispánica
Biography under the name "Eugenio Lucas y Padilla"
@ MCN Biografías.
Scholarly articles
in English about Eugenio Lucas Velázquez both in web an
PDF
@ th
Spanish Old Masters Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lucas Velazquez, Eugenio 1817 births 1870 deaths 19th-century Spanish painters 19th-century Spanish male artists Spanish male painters Painters from Madrid Spanish Orientalist painters Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando alumni Spanish genre painters Spanish romantic painters

Biography

Selected paintings

References

Further reading

External links