Mariano Benlliure y Gil (8 September 18629 November 1947) was a Spanish sculptor and

medallist A medalist (or medallist) is an artist who designs medals, plaquettes, badges, metal medallions, coins and similar small works in relief in metal. Historically, medalists were typically also involved in producing their designs, and were usually e ...

, who executed many public monuments and religious sculptures in Spain, working in a heroic realist style.

Life and works

He was born in the Lower Street of the Carmen neighborhood of Valencia. His earliest sculptures featured bullfighting themes, modeled in wax and cast in bronze. At the age of thirteen he showed a wax '' modello'' of a picador at the Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes, 1876. Pursuing the thought of becoming a painter, he went to Paris his expenses paid by his master, Francisco Domingo Marqués. A trip to Rome in 1879, revealing at first hand the sculptures of

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...

convinced him to be a sculptor. In 1887 he established himself permanently in Madrid, where in that year's Exposición Nacional his portrait sculpture of the painter Ribera won him a first-prize. Benlliure's style is characterized by detailed naturalism allied to an impressionistic spontaneity. His portrait busts and public monuments are numerous, and include: * the tomb of Práxedes Mateo Sagasta in the

Pantheon of Illustrious Men The Pantheon of Illustrious Men ( es, Panteón de Hombres Ilustres) is a royal site in Madrid, under the administration of the Patrimonio Nacional. It was designed by Spanish architect Fernando Arbós y Tremanti, and is located in Basilica of ...

, Madrid * monument to José de San Martín,

Lima, Peru Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...

* the monument to Álvaro de Bazán, Plaza de la Villa, Madrid. * the

monument to Isabella the Catholic The Monument to Isabella the Catholic ( Spanish: ''Monumento a Isabel la Católica'') is an instance of public art located in Madrid, Spain. A work by , the monument is a sculptural bronze ensemble consisting of an equestrian statue of Isabella of ...

, Granada * the monument to General Cassola, Parque del Oeste, Madrid * the monument to Maria Christina of Bourbon, Madrid * the bronze equestrian statue of the monument to Alfonso XII, in Madrid's El Retiro, the centerpiece of a memorial designed by architect José Grases Riera. * the monument to Agustina de Aragón, in Zaragoza. * the monument to Castelar, in Madrid. * the monument to Arsenio Martínez Campos, in El Retiro. * the monument to Miguel Primo de Rivera, in Jerez de la Frontera. * the monument to Antonio Maura, in

Palma de Mallorca Palma (; ; also known as ''Palma de Mallorca'', officially between 1983–88, 2006–08, and 2012–16) is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is situate ...

. * the monument to Cuba, in El Retiro, with help from

Miquel Blay Miguel Blay y Fàbregas (in Catalan, ''Miquel Blay i Fàbregas'') (8 October 1866, Olot - 22 January 1936, Madrid) was a Spanish sculptor. Biography Blay was born in the city of Olot, in the province of Girona to a humble family. He begins ...

Francisco Asorey Francisco Asorey González (4 March 1889 – 2 July 1961) was a Spanish sculptor. Born in Cambados, Galicia (Spain), Galicia, he was one of the most important Spanish sculptors of the early 20th century. He studied and began work as a religious ...

and Juan Cristóbal (completed by 1930, unveiled in 1952). Mariano Benlliure was the engraver of the first Peseta coins issued in 1947 showing the head of

Franco Franco may refer to: Name * Franco (name) * Francisco Franco (1892–1975), Spanish general and dictator of Spain from 1939 to 1975 * Franco Luambo (1938–1989), Congolese musician, the "Grand Maître" Prefix * Franco, a prefix used when ...

. He was depicted on the Spanish 500 ptas banknote in the 1950s, with his sculpture "Sepulcro De Gayarre en el Roncal" on the reverse. His brothers José and were also painters.

Works

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benlliure, Mariano 1862 births 1947 deaths 19th-century Spanish sculptors 19th-century Spanish male artists Spanish male sculptors 20th-century Spanish sculptors 20th-century Spanish male artists Orientalist painters People from Valencia