Emilio Sala (painter)

Emilio Sala y Francés (20 January 1850 – 14 April 1910) was a Spanish painter, primarily of female portraits.

Biography

He was born in Alcoy, Spain, Alcoy to a family of merchants.Brief biography
@ MCN Biografías. His first studies were at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Carlos de Valencia with Plácido Francés y Pascual, his cousin.Brief biography
@ the Museo del Prado website. In 1871, he had his first public showing at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts (Spain), National Exhibition of Fine Arts and won First Prize there in 1878. He also opened a studio in Madrid and took part in decorating the Anglada and Mazarredo palaces, the ceilings of the Café de Fornos (now gone), and the Cantina Americana.

In 1885, after failing to receive a Professorship at the "School of Arts and Crafts", he applied for and received a fellowship to study at the Spanish Academy in Rome but, two years later, was granted leave to study in Paris instead.Brief biography by Carmen Gracia
@ the Carmen Thyssen Museum website. At the Exposition Universelle (1889) he presented his now-famous painting ''Expulsion of the Jews from Spain'', only to discover that the French public apparently no longer appreciated historical works, so he presented it in Spain, where it was better received. In 1890, perhaps as a result of this experience, he abandoned that subject in favor of Genre art, genre scenes, landscapes, and illustrating.

In 1896, he returned to Spain, where he married and reopened his studio. Many of his works appeared in the magazine ''Blanco y Negro (magazine), Blanco y Negro''. He also illustrated some of the ''Episodios Nacionales'' of Benito Pérez Galdós. and created decorations for the palace of the Isabella, Princess of Asturias (1851–1931), Infanta Isabella, which were highly praised. Overall, however, his portraits stand out.

In 1906, he once again applied for an academic position, this time at the Escuela de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, and was rejected in favor of Ramón Menéndez Pidal. As compensation, the school created a chair in the "Theory and Esthetics of Color" especially for him. He held that post until his death, from heart failure, in 1910 in Madrid. Among his many honors are the Grand Cross of the Order of Isabel the Catholic and the Cross of the Order of St. Michael (Bavaria), presented at an exhibition in Munich in 1885.

Other selected paintings

File:Joven en una puerta, de Emilio Sala Francés (Museo del Prado).jpg, ''Young Lady in the Doorway'' (c.1895)
File:Emilio Sala Francés Muneca abandonata 33,2 x 19 cm.jpg, ''The Abandoned Doll''
File:María Guerrero niña.jpg, ''Portrait of María Guerrero'' (1878)
File:Florista, Emili Sala Francés, Museu de Belles Arts de València.jpg, ''Woman with Flowers''
File:Retrat de jove, Emili Sala Francés, Museu de Belles Arts de València.jpg, ''Portrait of a
young girl'' (1886)
File:Retrato de Alfonso XIII (Emilio Sala Francés).jpg, ''Portrait of
King Alfonso XIII of Spain, Alfonso XIII''
File:Emilio Sala Francés - Retrato de dama.jpg, ''Portrait of a Lady'' (1910)

References

Further reading

* Emilio Sala, ''Gramática del color'', Madrid, Viuda e hijos de Murillo, 1906. Reprinted, 1944, by the Librería general.
* Aureliano de Beruete y Moret, "Emilio Sala", in ''Museum'', #II, Barcelona, Thomas, 1911.
* Adrián Espí Valdés, ''El Pintor Emilio Sala y su obra''. Servicio de Estudios Artísticos, Institución Alfonso el Magnánimo, Valencia, 1975.

External links

The Athenaeum:
More works by Sala

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sala, Emilio
1850 births
1910 deaths
19th-century Spanish painters
19th-century Spanish male artists
Spanish male painters
Spanish portrait painters
20th-century Spanish painters
20th-century Spanish male artists
People from Alcoy
Recipients of the Order of Isabella the Catholic