Ricardo Arredondo Calmache

Not to be confused with Ricardo Arredondo, the Mexican boxer.
Ricardo Arredondo
(date unknown)

Ricardo Arredondo Calmache (23 October 1850, Cella - 1911, Madrid) was a Spanish painter who specialized in landscapes and costumbrista scenes; known for his meticulous attention to detail.

Biography

His father was a veteran of the First Carlist War. His uncle was a priest who later became a canon in Toledo. With his support, the family moved to Toledo when Arredondo was twelve years old. He refused to enter a military cadet school and took art lessons from Matías Moreno until he was able to enroll at the "Escuela Especial de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado de Madrid", where he studied with Carlos de Haes.[1] He then travelled to Paris, where he associated with the circle of Ernest Meissonier and was exposed to the influence of the Barbizon school.[1]

Tanners' Workshop

Upon returning to Spain, he participated in the National Exhibition of Fine Arts and would continue to be a regular participant for the next two decades. He also travelled throughout Spain, creating drawings for a major publishing project that never came to fruition.

Upon the death of his uncle, who had become Chaplain to the King, he inherited a small fortune. He used the money to buy and refurbish a dilapidated mansion. Gregorio Marañón described him as a man who rarely sold any paintings, but enjoyed regaling his friends; notably the writer Benito Pérez Galdós, for whom he served as a sort of "cicerone".[2]

He also served as a municipal councillor and was a member of the Monument Commission, where he oversaw restoration of the Puerta de Bisagra Nueva.[1] This brought him a corresponding membership in the Real Academia de Bellas Artes. His numerous cityscapes and landscapes around the Tagus River earned him the title "Pintor de Toledo".[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Brief biography @ the Museo del Prado.
  2. ↑ Vida de Galdós by Pedro Ortiz Armengal, Grupo Planeta, 2000 ISBN 84-84320-73-1

Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ricardo Arredondo Calmache.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/10/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.