Rafael Tegeo Díaz (27 November 1798,

Caravaca de la Cruz Caravaca de la Cruz (), often shortened to Caravaca, is a town and municipality of southeastern Spain in the region of Murcia, near the left bank of the River Argos, a tributary of the Segura. It is the capital of the northwest Region of Murci ...

- 3 October 1856,

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 ...

) was a Spanish Neoclassical painter, known primarily for his portraits. His name is sometimes spelled Tejeo.

Biography

He was born to a family of artisans. After displaying an early affinity for drawing, he was enrolled at the "Real Sociedad de Amigos del País" in

Murcia Murcia ( , , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the Capital (political), capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the Ranked lists of Spanish municipalities#By population, seventh largest city i ...

, where an Italian sculptor named Santiago Baglietto introduced him to

Greek sculpture The sculpture of ancient Greece is the main surviving type of fine ancient Greek art as, with the exception of painted ancient Greek pottery, almost no ancient Greek painting survives. Modern scholarship identifies three major stages in monument ...

.Biography and appreciation
@ the Caravaca de la Cruz website. Later, thanks to the patronage of the Marqués de San Mamés, he was able to attend the

Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando The Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando (RABASF; ), located on the Calle de Alcalá in the centre of Madrid, currently functions as a museum and gallery. A public law corporation, it is integrated together with other Spanish royal aca ...

, where he studied with

José Aparicio José Aparicio e Inglada (16 December 1773 – 10 May 1838) was a Spanish painter in the Neoclassical style; closely associated with the reign of King Ferdinand VII. Biography He was born in Alicante, the seventh of eight children in a middle ...

and Fernando Brambila.Brief biography
@ Biografías y Vidas. In 1824, he received a stipend to study in Rome with

Pietro Benvenuti Pietro Benvenuti (8 January 1769 – 3 February 1844) was an Italian Neoclassicism, Neoclassical painter. Biography Early life and education Born in Arezzo in Tuscany, he was influenced by the style of Jacques-Louis David. He was a student of ...

and

Vincenzo Camuccini Vincenzo Camuccini (22 February 1771 – 2 September 1844) was an Italian Neoclassicism, Neoclassical painter. He was considered the premier academic painter of his time in Rome. Biography Early life and education Camuccini was born in Rome, ...

, among others. While there, he was heavily influenced by the works of

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...

and

Guido Reni Guido Reni (; 4 November 1575 – 18 August 1642) was an Italian Baroque painter, although his works showed a classical manner, similar to Simon Vouet, Nicolas Poussin, and Philippe de Champaigne. He painted primarily religious works, but al ...

. He sent numerous paintings home for exhibition and, in 1828, he was named an "Academician" for his painting of

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Gr ...

and

Antaeus Antaeus (; , derived from ), known to the Berbers as Anti, was a figure in Traditional Berber religion, Berber and Greek mythology. He was famed for his defeat by Heracles as part of the Labours of Hercules. Family In Greek sources, he was ...

.Brief biography
@ 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 ...

. Initially, he concentrated on themes from mythology; creating murals at the

Palacio Real The Royal Palace of Madrid () is the official residence of the Spanish royal family at the city of Madrid, although now used only for state ceremonies. The palace has of floor space and contains 3,418 rooms. It is the largest royal palace in Eu ...

, the and the . He also did the occasional historical scene, notably an episode from the Siege of Málaga in the Palacio Real. Ultimately, though, he achieved his greatest fame through his portraits. His canvases of Francis, Duke of Cádiz and Queen

Isabel II Isabella II (, María Isabel Luisa de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias; 10 October 1830 – 9 April 1904) was Queen of Spain from 1833 until her deposition in 1868. She is the only queen regnant in the history of unified Spain. Isabella wa ...

won him an appointment as

court painter A court painter was an artist who painted for the members of a royal or princely family, sometimes on a fixed salary and on an exclusive basis where the artist was not supposed to undertake other work. Painters were the most common, but the cour ...

. He not only painted the nobility, but the emerging bourgeoisie as well. He is also known for a series of posthumous portraits of famous Admirals and other officials related to the Spanish Navy, now at the

Museo Naval de Madrid The Naval Museum () is a maritime museum, naval museum in Madrid, Spain, devoted to the history of the Spanish Navy since the Catholic Monarchs, in the 15th century, up to the present. It is one of the National Museums of Spain and it is attached ...

. In 1839, he was appointed Deputy Director of painting at the Academia and, three years later, became Honorary Director, a position he held until his resignation in 1846. His last major exhibition was at the

Exposition Universelle (1855) The of 1855 (), better known in English as the 1855 Paris Exposition, was a world's fair held on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, France, from 15 May to 15 November 1855. Its full official title was the . It was the first of ten major expositions ...

. The street where he was born was renamed in his honor. In 2015, the

Ayuntamiento ''Ayuntamiento'' ()In other languages of Spain: * (). * (). * (). is the general term for the town council, or ''cabildo'', of a municipality or, sometimes, as is often the case in Spain and Latin America, for the municipality itself. is mai ...

of Caravaca announced the forthcoming publication of a new book, ''Rafael Tegeo: Del tema clásico al retrato romántico'', by Martín Páez Burruezo (b.1948).Announcement
@ Turismo Caravaca.

Selected portraits

Tejeo-Benitez.jpg, Don Pedro Benítez and
His Daughter María de la Cruz Tejeo-Barrio.jpg, The Barrio Family Tejeo-Girl.jpg, Young Girl with Landscape Tegeo Díaz - Los duques de San Fernando de Quiroga.jpg, The Duke and Duchess of San Fernando

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tegeo Diaz, Rafael 1798 births 1856 deaths People from Caravaca de la Cruz 19th-century Spanish painters 19th-century Spanish male artists Spanish male painters Spanish portrait painters Court painters Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando alumni