José Lázaro Galdiano (1862–1947) was a Spanish

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publisher Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

and

art collector A private collection is a privately owned collection of works (usually artworks) or valuable items. In a museum or art gallery context, the term signifies that a certain work is not owned by that institution, but is on loan from an individual ...

, who, by the time of his death, owned one of the largest and most significant art collections in Spain.Cook, 326 He was described in 1940 as "one of the greatest patrons of culture in nineteenth century Spain".Hilton, 319 At the time of his death, his collection numbered some 12,600 pieces, mostly from the

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and Romantic periods - he had little interest in the

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Life

Lázaro was born in 1862 in

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. He studied Law and Philosophy in

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and

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 ...

before taking office in 1883 at the

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. However, his talent and ability in art appreciation and journalism soon took his career in another direction. He befriended

Emilia Pardo Bazán Emilia Pardo Bazán y de la Rúa-Figueroa, Countess of Pardo Bazán (; 16 September 185112 May 1921) was a Spanish novelist, journalist, literary critic, poet, playwright, translator, editor and professor. Her naturalism (literature), naturalis ...

who introduced him to the leading Spanish intellectuals of the time. In 1889, he co-founded the

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''España Moderna'' with

Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo (; 3 November 1856 – 19 May 1912) was a Spanish scholar, historian and literary critic. Even though his main interest was the history of ideas, and Hispanic philology in general, he also cultivated poetry, transl ...

and a number of leading Spanish critics. This was followed by the launch of the ''Revista Internacional''; a review that featured Spanish, French, English and German writers. In 1903, he married the glamorous

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Paula Florido (d. 1931) who shared his passion for art and advised him on many of his major acquisitions. She accompanied him on his frequent travels across Europe, Africa and North and South America seeking art objects. Lázaro was a member of the Athenæum of Madrid and served on the board of trustees 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 ...

. In 1921, he was elected president of the International congress of History of Art. He spent the years of the

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in exile, first in Paris and later New York, where he continued to collect art works. He returned to Madrid following the end of the conflict.

The Lázaro Galdiano Museum

Since Lázaro's death his home in Calle Serrano, a fashionable street in Madrid, has been adapted to serve as a museum to house his collections. The building was commissioned in 1903, the year of his marriage, and is in neo-Renaissance style. The museum is open to the public and includes works by Bosch,

Velázquez Velázquez, also Velazquez, Velásquez or Velasquez (, ), is a surname from Spain. It is a patronymic name, meaning "son of Velasco". References to "Velazquez" without a first name are often to the Spanish painter, Diego Velázquez. Notable peo ...

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 ...

El Greco Doménikos Theotokópoulos (, ; 1 October 1541 7 April 1614), most widely known as El Greco (; "The Greek"), was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance, regarded as one of the greatest artists of all time. ...

and Zurbarán.Art from all periods of history
. Instituto de Turismo de España. Retrieved on 21 February 2010.

Notes

References

* Cook, Walter W. S. "Jose Lázaro y Galdiano (1862-1947)". ''College Art Journal'', Volume 7, No. 4, Summer 1948. 326-330 * Hilton, Ronald. "". ''Hispania'', Volume 23, No. 4, December 1940. 319-325

External links

Official website of the Fundación Lázaro Galdiano
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lazaro Galdiano, Jose 1862 births 1947 deaths Spanish art collectors