José Villegas Cordero (26 August 1844,

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

– 9 November 1921,

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 ...

) was a Spanish painter of historical,

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.

Early life

His father ran a barbershop, and his family had their doubts about an artistic career.Biography
@ Conocer Sevilla. But, in 1860, when he was still only sixteen, he sold one of his works at the "Exposición Sevillana" for 2,000 Reales. This changed his family's mind and he was apprenticed to the painter José María Romero López, staying with him for two years before enrolling at the Escuela de Bellas Artes de Sevilla, where he studied with Eduardo Cano.Biography
@ MCN Biografías. In 1867, he travelled to Madrid, where found work in the studios of

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, and Isabel Kuntz Valentini. Federico's gra ...

. While there, he spent time 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 ...

, copying the works of

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 ...

to perfect his technique. Finally, inspired by the works of the Orientalist painter Marià Fortuny, he organized an excursion to

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

.Museo del Prado
Biography, with details of his tenure as Director. Near the end of 1868, with financial assistance from his family, he decided to visit Rome with some of his friends and spent time in the workshop of

Eduardo Rosales Eduardo Rosales Gallinas (4 November 1836 – 13 September 1873) was a Spanish painter. He was an adherent of the Italian-based art movement known as "Purismo" and specialized in historical scenes. Biography He was born in Madrid. The second ...

. It was there that he created his first costumbrista works, which proved to be very popular. He also began painting Orientalist scenes based on the numerous sketches he brought back from Morocco, and returned there briefly to collect more material. The vogue for these types of paintings was soon at its high point, and his works were widely promoted by the Bosch y Hernández galleries.

Career

After 1877, he often lived in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

and produced works designed to be of interest to wealthy American buyers. By 1887, he was able to build a house, which he designed himself. It soon became a gathering place for high society. He also began accepting a small number of students. In 1878, the

Spanish Senate The Senate () is the upper house of the , which along with the Congress of Deputies – the Lower house, lower chamber – comprises the Parliament of the Kingdom of Spain. The Senate meets in the Palacio del Senado, Palace of the Senate in Madri ...

commissioned him to paint a large-scale historical work on the subject "

Hernán Cortés Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca (December 1485 – December 2, 1547) was a Spanish ''conquistador'' who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions o ...

' interview with Moctezuma". The commission was cancelled four years later, but it inspired him to embark on a series of historical paintings. Later, a Dutch publishing company approached several major European artists to produce illustrations for a ''Magna Biblia''. Villegas was entrusted with depicting the prophecies in the

Book of Isaiah The Book of Isaiah ( ) is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible and the first of the Major Prophets in the Christian Old Testament. It is identified by a superscription as the words of the 8th-century BC prophet Isaiah ben Amo ...

. The 1890s began quietly but, in 1896, his younger brother Ricardo (who was also an artist) drowned after he fell off a boat on the

Guadalquivir The Guadalquivir (, also , , ) is the fifth-longest river in the Iberian Peninsula and the second-longest river with its entire length in Spain. The Guadalquivir is the only major navigable river in Spain. Currently it is navigable from Seville ...

. This plunged him into depression and he began painting works of an

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