Martín Tovar y Tovar (10 February 1827 – 17 December 1902) was a Venezuelan painter, best known for his portraits and historical scenes.

Biography

Tovar was born and died in

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

. His father, Antonio María Tovar (1791–1860), was a former official of the Spanish government who had retired after receiving a serious bullet wound during the

War of Independence Wars of national liberation, also called wars of independence or wars of liberation, are conflicts fought by nations to gain independence. The term is used in conjunction with wars against foreign powers (or at least those perceived as foreign) ...

. His mother, Damiana Tovar Liendo (c.1805–1844), was from

. The family had been living in exile in

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

, but returned to Venezuela immediately before Tovar's birth.Biography
@ Wikihistoria del Arte Venezolano. He received his first lessons from Celestino Martínez who, at the age of nineteen, had just become an instructor at the "Academia de Dibujo" (Drawing Academy). Later, Tovar studied at the Academy itself with Antonio José Carranza and at the "Colegio de La Paz" with Carmelo Fernández. In 1844, he joined with Fernández and two other artists to acquire a

lithography Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the miscibility, immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by ...

workshop owned by German emigrants.Brief biography
@ MCN Biografías. Firma del acta de independencia de Venezuela

In 1850, he travelled to Spain and enrolled at 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 ...

in Madrid. There, he studied with José de Madrazo and his son,

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 ...

, among others.Brief biography
@ Efemérides Venezolanos. In 1851, he opened a shop called "Fotografía Artística de Martín Tovar y Tovar", becoming one of his country's pioneer photographers. In 1852, he moved to Paris and found a position in the workshop of Léon Cogniet. Three years later, he returned to Venezuela, but stayed for only a year before going back to Paris to copy paintings by the major artists, with a view towards using them to establish a national museum in Caracas. His proposal was accepted, but a lack of funds kept it from being realized. He continued to focus on portraits, however, and participated in several exhibitions, including the

International Exposition (1867) The of 1867 (), better known in English as the 1867 Paris Exposition, was a world's fair held in Paris, Second French Empire, France, from 1 April to 3 November 1867. It was the List of world expositions, second of ten major expositions held i ...

in Paris. Two years later, he was appointed Director of the "Academia de Bellas Artes" in Caracas. In 1872, he exhibited at the "Primera Exposición Anual de Bellas Artes Venezolanas", organized by the explorers James Mudie Spence (1836–1878)Biography of Spence
@ Pioneros en Venezuela. and Anton Goering (who was also a painter). In 1873, he received what would be his largest commission; painting 30 portraits of heroes from the War of Independence and other public figures for the "Salón Elíptico" at the

Palacio Federal Legislativo The Palacio Federal Legislativo ( English: Federal Legislative Palace), also known as the Capitolio, is a historic building in Caracas, Venezuela which houses the National Assembly. Located southwest of the Plaza Bolívar, it was built between 1 ...

, a project that would occupy him for two years. In 1881, he received another commission from President

Antonio Guzmán Blanco Antonio Leocadio Guzmán Blanco (28 February 1829 – 28 July 1899) was a Venezuelan military leader, statesman, diplomat and politician. He was the president of Venezuela for , from 1870 until 1877, from 1879 until 1884, and from 1886 until 1 ...

; a large canvas depicting the signing of the

Venezuelan Declaration of Independence The Venezuelan Declaration of Independence () is a document drafted and adopted by Venezuelan on July 5, 1811, through which Venezuelans made the decision to separate from the History of Spain (1810–1873), Spanish Crown in order to establish a ...

, also for the "Salón Elíptico". The work was presented at the "Exposición Nacional de Venezuela" in 1883 and was awarded a gold medal. This resulted in further commissions to portray the battles of

Carabobo Carabobo State (, ) is one of the 23 states of Venezuela, located in the north of the country, about two hours by car from Caracas. The state capital city is Valencia, which is also the country's main industrial center. The state's area is and ...

, Boyacá, Junín and

Ayacucho Ayacucho (, , derived from the words ''aya'' ("death" or "soul") and ''k'uchu'' ("corner") in honour of the battle of Ayacucho), founded in 1540 as San Juan de la Frontera de Huamanga and known simply as Huamanga (Quechua: Wamanga) until 1825, i ...

. After researching and sketching the battle sites, he set up a workshop in Paris, which he maintained from 1887 to the late 1890s, commuting between there and Caracas and doing more portraits as well as the battle scenes. He had finished only three of the battles when he died in 1902. The ''Battle of Ayucucho'' was completed by

Antonio Herrera Toro Antonio Herrera Toro (16 January 1857 – 26 June 1914) was a Venezuelan painter, art critic and professor. Biography He was born in Valencia, Carabobo, and began his artistic studies in 1869 under the tutelage of Martín Tovar y Tovar. Five ...

, using Tovar's studies.

Selected portraits

File:Gregorio MacGregor.jpg, Gregor MacGregor File:Martin Tovar y Tovar 20 restored.jpg,

File:Martin Tovar y Tovar 03.jpg, Guzmán's mother, Carlota File:Martin Tovar y Tovar 23.JPG,

Juan Crisóstomo Falcón Juan Crisóstomo Falcón Zavarce (27 January 1820 – 29 April 1870) was the president of Venezuela from 1863 to 1868.Francisco de Miranda Sebastián Francisco de Miranda y Rodríguez de Espinoza (28 March 1750 – 14 July 1816), commonly known as Francisco de Miranda (), was a Venezuelan military leader and revolutionary who fought in the American Revolutionary War, the French R ...

References

External links

Escuela de Artes Plásticas "Martín Tovar y Tovar"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tovar Y Tovar, Martin 1827 births 1902 deaths Artists from Caracas Venezuelan portrait painters Military art 19th-century Venezuelan painters 19th-century male artists Burials at the National Pantheon of Venezuela 20th-century Venezuelan painters 20th-century Venezuelan male artists Venezuelan male painters

Biography

Selected portraits

References

Further reading

External links