Fernando Álvarez de Sotomayor y Zaragoza (September 25, 1875 – March 17, 1960) was a Galician (Spanish) painter.

Biography

Álvarez de Sotomayor was born in Ferrol. He studied at the Colegio Mª Cristina in

El Escorial El Escorial, or the Royal Site of San Lorenzo de El Escorial (), or (), is a historical residence of the king of Spain located in the town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, up the valley ( road distance) from the town of El Escorial, Madrid, El ...

and at the age of 10 years was the only person to draw a portrait of King Alfonso XII in his death bed (the drawing still belongs to the painter's family) and participated in courses of philosophy and literature in Madrid. In 1899 he achieved a scholarship to continue his studies in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, where he lived for four years. Before his return to Spain in 1904, he visited France, Belgium and the Netherlands. He married Pilar de Castro. They had seven children. Around 1910 he moved to

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

, where he held the chair of coloration and composition at the Academy of Painting (Santiago, Chile) and later became its director. In 1915, the family returned to Spain. Back in Madrid, he was nominated court painter of

Alfonso XIII Alfonso XIII (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Alfonso León Fernando María Jaime Isidro Pascual Antonio de Borbón y Habsburgo-Lorena''; French language, French: ''Alphonse Léon Ferdinand Marie Jacques Isidore Pascal Antoine de Bourbon''; 17 May ...

. In 1922 he became director of 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 ...

and member of the Escuela de Bellas Artes de San Fernando. As director of the Museo del Prado, he was in charge until 1931 when he was obliged to leave the post due to the rise of the republic in Spain. He later became director of the museum a second time after the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

until he died. He played a great role in hiding most of the paintings the museum held during the Spanish civil war and later on recovering them. From 1953 to 1955 he was also director of 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 ...

.''Álvarez de Sotomayor y Zaragoza, Fernando''
(Spanish) He died 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 ...

, aged 84.

Awards

Álvarez de Sotomayor was multiple awarded. In 1904 he won the second and in 1906 the first medal at the Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes (''national exposition of fine arts''). In 1907 he won the Exposición Internacional de Barcelona (''international exposition of

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of 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 c ...

''), as well as medals in

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Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

and

Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...

, and was decorated with the

Grand Cross Grand Cross is the highest class in many orders, and manifested in its insignia. Exceptionally, the highest class may be referred to as Grand Cordon or equivalent. In other cases, there may exist a rank even higher than Grand Cross, e.g. Gran ...

of the Orden de Alfonso X el Sabio, The great Cross of Isabel La Catolica, Great Cross Of Alfonso XII and with the Italian Court medal.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alvarez De Sotomayor Y Zaragoza, Fernando 19th-century Spanish painters 19th-century Spanish male artists Spanish male painters 20th-century Spanish painters 20th-century Spanish male artists People from Ferrol, Spain 1875 births 1960 deaths Directors of the Museo del Prado Academic staff of the Academy of Painting (Santiago, Chile)