Juan Padilla y Lara

JUAN PADILLA Y LARA (Jerez de la Frontera, 1906 - 1980).
"Couple of vases", c. 1900.
Oil on boards (x2).
They have frames of the nineteenth century.
One of them has a signature in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 55 x 72 cm; 75 x 91 cm (frame).
In this pair of canvases we see a still life open to landscape, following a composition inspired by the baroque models, although the arrangement of the flowers, regular and geometric, remains faithful to the most static and rigorous models. Nevertheless, the opening to the landscape indicates that we are dealing with works of an advanced date. In this pair of canvases we see a still life open to landscape on one side, following a composition typical of the full baroque, although the arrangement of flowers, regular and geometric, remains faithful to the most static and rigorous models of the first half of the seventeenth century. Nevertheless, not only the opening to landscape but also the presence of architectural elements located in the last plane of each of the compositions, indicate that we are before works of an already advanced date.
Juan Padilla y Lara was a painter who combined his artistic work with teaching at the School of Applied Arts and Crafts in his hometown, where he himself had begun his pictorial training. From 1955 onwards, he extended his studies at the Escuela Superior de Bellas Artes de Santa Isabel de Hungría (Seville), obtaining the title of Professor of Drawing in 1960. He stood out, above all, for his still lifes and still lifes (in which the grape, shown with an almost photographic precision, and the works of the field related to this fruit, had a frequent protagonism). His son, Juan Padilla Pardo, is another outstanding artist, who continues the family saga and became director of the same School of Applied Arts and Crafts.