Benet Mercadé i Fàbrega, in Spanish: Benito Mercadé y Fábregas (1821 – 10 December 1897) was a

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

painter of portraits and historical scenes.

Biography

Mercadé was born in

La Bisbal d'Empordà La Bisbal d'Empordà is the county seat of the ''comarca'' of Baix Empordà in Catalonia, Spain. The town lies 29 km southeast of Girona, 12 km west of Palafrugell and 19 km northwest of Palamós along road C-66 from Girona t ...

. His father was a painter and gilder. In 1838, he moved to

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, where he worked as a shoemaker's assistant while beginning his studies at the

Escola de la Llotja The Escola de la Llotja (, "Llotja School"; es, Escuela de la Lonja), officially the Escola d'Arts i Oficis de Barcelona (Barcelona Arts and Crafts School), is an art and design school located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The school took its ...

, doing some occasional ornamental painting and making daguerrotypes.Brief biography
@ Museo del Prado website. He later attended the Escuela de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid, where he studied with Carlos Luis de Ribera.Santiago Alcolea, ''Pinturas de la Universidad de Barcelona'', Edicions Universitat Barcelona, (1980)

/ref> His first major exhibition came in 1852 and, a year later, he settled in Madrid. In 1858, he participated in the National Exhibition of Fine Arts (Spain), National Exhibition of Fine Arts, presenting two major works, one on

Don Quixote is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of West ...

and one on

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

, the latter of which gained an "honorable mention".David Garcia López, ''Los depósitos del Museo del Prado en el antiguo Museo Provincial de Girona, actual Museo d'Art'', Annals de l'Institut d'Estudis Gironins #42 (200

/ref> He would continue to participate in the National Exhibitions until 1876. He obtained the Grand Prize at an exposition in Paris in 1866 with the "Traslación de San Francisco de Asís" (The Passing of Saint Francis of Assisi). From 1863 to 1869, he lived in Rome where he frequented the Antico Caffè Greco, meeting with other painters and writers from Spain such as

Dióscoro Puebla Dióscoro Teófilo Puebla Tolín (25 February 1831 – 24 October 1901) was a Spanish painter in the Eclectic style who specialized in portraits, genre and history painting. Biography Puebla was born in Melgar de Fernamental. His first studi ...

José Casado del Alisal José María Casado del Alisal (1830/32 – 8 October 1886)Brief bi ...

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 ...

, Vicente Palmaroli,

Marià Fortuny Marià Josep Maria Bernat Fortuny i Marsal (; es, Mariano José María Bernardo Fortuny y Marsal; June 11, 1838 – November 21, 1874), known more simply as Marià Fortuny or Mariano Fortuny, was the leading Spanish painter of his day, with an ...

and

Alejo Vera Alejo Vera y Estaca (14 July 1834, Viñuelas – 4 February 1923, Madrid) was a Spanish painter in the Romantic style who specialized in history painting. Biography At an early age, his teachers in the public school noticed that he had a ...

. He returned to Barcelona because of his increasingly poor eyesight, and eventually had to stop painting, but still obtained a full professorship at the Escola in 1882. He was initially influenced by the

Nazarene movement The epithet Nazarene was adopted by a group of early 19th-century German Romantic painters who aimed to revive spirituality in art. The name Nazarene came from a term of derision used against them for their affectation of a biblical manner of c ...

, but later switched to

Realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *Classical Realism *Literary realism, a move ...

, focusing on religious and historic themes. He died in

, aged 76. A street in Barcelona is named after him.

Selected paintings

File:Benet Mercadé - Church of Cervara (Papal States) - Google Art Project.jpg, ''The Wake'' (1864) File:Santa Teresa de Jesús, de Benito Mercadé (Museo del Prado)FXD.jpg, '' Saint Teresa of Jesus'' (1868) File:Christopher Columbus at the gates of the monastery of Santa Maria de la Rabida with his son DiegoFXD.jpg, ''Columbus at La Rábida Friary'' (1858) File:Traslación de San Francisco de Asís, de Benet Mercadé.jpg, ''The Passing of Saint Francis of Assisi'' (1866)

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mercade, Benet 1821 births 1897 deaths Painters from Catalonia History painters Painters from Barcelona 19th-century Spanish painters Spanish male painters Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando alumni 19th-century Spanish male artists

Biography

Selected paintings

References

Further reading

External links