JOSÉ VILLEGAS CORDERO
Spanish, 1844 - 1921
THE BARBER OF SEVILLE
signed & dated "J. Villegas. / Junio 1913." (lower left)
oil on canvas
19-3/8 x 28-3/4 inches (49 x 73 cm.)
framed: 27-1/2 x 36-3/4 inches (69.5 x 93 cm.)
PROVENANCE
Private Collector, Seville, Spain
José Villegas Cordero (Seville, August 26, 1844-Madrid, November 9, 1921) was a Spanish painter. He directed the Prado Museum between 1901 and 1918.
He was the brother of the painter Ricardo Villegas Cordero. He began his apprenticeship very young with José María Romero, with whom he remained for two years until entering the School of Fine Arts in Seville, where he was under the tutelage of Eduardo Cano.
In 1860, when he was only 16 years old, he sold his work Little Philosophy for 2,000 reais at the Seville Exhibition. In 1867 he traveled to Madrid, where he entered Federico Madrazo's studio. There he established friendship with painters Eduardo Rosales and Fortuny.
He went regularly to the Prado where he copied Velázquez, from whom he acquired spontaneity and the use of color for his technique.
Finally, and out of admiration for Fortuny's orientalist painting, he returned to Seville and organized an excursion to Morocco.
At the end of 1868 he decided to travel to Rome accompanied by the painters Rafael Peralta and Luis Jiménez Aranda...
Category
1910s Realist Figurative Paintings