Valeriano Domínguez Bécquer (15 December 1833 – 23 September 1870) was a Spanish painter and graphic artist, who often worked in the
costumbrismo
''Costumbrismo'' (in Catalan: ''costumisme''; sometimes anglicized as costumbrism, with the adjectival form costumbrist) is the literary or pictorial interpretation of local everyday life, mannerisms, and customs, primarily in the Hispanic sce ...
style.
[Brief biography](_blank)
@ the Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana
The (English: the ''Great Catalan Encyclopedia'') is a Catalan language, Catalan-language encyclopedia, started in fascicles, and published in 1968 by . The soul of the work was written by Max Cahner, and the first director was Jordi Carbonell. ...
[Brief biography](_blank)
@ 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 ...
Biography
He was born in
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, ...
. His father,
José Domínguez Bécquer
José María Domínguez Insausti, better known as José Domínguez Bécquer (22 January 1805, Seville - 28 January 1841, Seville) was a Spanish painter in the Costumbrismo style. He was the father of the famous poet, Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, and ...
, was also a painter and his younger brother was the poet
Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer
Gustavo Adolfo Claudio Domínguez Bastida (17 February 1836 – 22 December 1870), better known as Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (), was a Spanish Spanish Romance literature, Romantic poet and writer (mostly short stories), also a playwright, columni ...
.
His first art lessons came from his father, who died when Valeriano was only eight. Afterwards, he was raised by his mother's family and took lessons from his uncle
Joaquín Domínguez Bécquer, assisting in his workshop until 1853.
Later, he also studied with
Antonio Cabral Bejarano.
His brief marriage to the daughter of an Irish seaman failed in 1862, after producing two children, and he followed his brother to Madrid. In 1865, he received a government commission to paint scenes of festivals, costumes and customs from the various Spanish regions, which resulted in several years of travelling. The project was left unfinished, however, when the
Glorious Revolution
The Glorious Revolution, also known as the Revolution of 1688, was the deposition of James II and VII, James II and VII in November 1688. He was replaced by his daughter Mary II, Mary II and her Dutch husband, William III of Orange ...
resulted in the grant for his commission being withdrawn.
To supplement his income, he worked as a cartoonist and illustrator for several publications, including ''
La Ilustración Española y Americana
''La Ilustración Española y Americana'' was a weekly Spanish magazine that was published from 1869 to 1921 on the 8th, 15th, 22nd and 30th of every month. It was also published biweekly.
History
The magazine was a continuation of ''El Museo U ...
'' and ''El Museo Universal'',
often in conjunction with Gustavo.
A series of pornographic satirical drawings, ''Los Borbones en Pelota'' (playing in private), by "SEM" have been attributed to him and his brother, but some researchers believe they are actually the work of
Francisco Ortego Vereda
Francisco Ortego y Vereda (1833–1881) was a Spanish caricaturist and illustrator. He was born in Madrid in 1833 and died in Bois-Colombes, France, in 1881.
Education and career
He studied at the School of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid a ...
, a radical opponent of the Royalists. They were privately distributed at first, and not published until 1991.
Listing
@ the Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
.
He died of liver disease 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 36, just three months before his brother. In fact, Gustavo's death may have been hastened by this event, as he fell into a deep depression afterward and his health had always been fragile. Valeriano's portrait of Gustavo was used on the 100 Peseta Spanish banknote from 1965 to 1970 and was the model for a memorial bust in Maria Luisa Park
Maria may refer to:
People
* Mary, mother of Jesus
* Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages
Place names Extraterrestrial
* 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877
* Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...
.
References
Further reading
*Rafael Santos Torroella, ''Valeriano Bécquer'', Volume 2 of ''Arte y los artistas españoles desde 1800'', Ediciones Cobalto, 1948
*José Guerrero Lovillo, ''Valeriano Bécquer: romántico y andariego (1833–1870)''. Volume 3 of ''Arte hispalense'', Diputación Provincial de Sevilla, 1974
External links
ArtNet: More works by Bécquer.
Biography and appreciation
@ MCN Biografías.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Becquer, Valeriano
1833 births
1870 deaths
Painters from Seville
19th-century Spanish painters
19th-century Spanish male artists
Spanish male painters
Deaths from liver disease