Ulpiano Checa

ULPIANO CHECA (Colmenar de Oreja, Madrid, 1860 - Dax, France, 1916).
"Indian chief on horseback".
Bronze.
Signed.
With seal of the founder Colin, Paris.
Measurements: 40 x 55 x 20 cm.

The one we present here is a passionate and expressive work starring an Indian chief on horseback. The animal of imposing anatomy gallops while its rider, who wears a long plume that falls on his back, looks at the horizon, raising his left hand to focus on his objective. The sculpture stands out for the laborious work of the horse, captured with a precision, naturalism and expressiveness that denote not only mastery on the part of the sculptor, but also a careful study of nature.

Ulpiano Checa began his artistic training in 1873, at the School of Arts and Crafts in Madrid. In 1876 he went to the San Fernando Academy, where he was a disciple of Federico de Madrazo. When he finished, in 1884, he obtained a pension to study at the Spanish Academy in Rome. During his third year he sends a work that will earn him the first medal at the National Exhibition of 1887, and second at the Universal Exhibition of Vienna in 1888. At the end of 1887 he took up residence in Paris, where he exhibited regularly in the Salons, achieving success when his work was awarded a prize in 1890. There he combines painting with his work as a graphic correspondent in "La Ilustración Española y Americana". At the beginning of the century he settled in the south of France, in Dax, where he remained until his death in 1916. It is important to highlight how Checa's work influenced the adventure films of Hollywood in the 50s and 60s. Film directors such as Stanley Kubrick ("Spartacus"), Mario Bonnard ("The Last Days of Pompeii"), Mervyn LeRoy ("Quo Vadis"), William Wyler ("Ben-Hur") or, more recently, Ridley Scott ("Gladiator") were inspired by his works for their set designs, costumes, mass movement studies and characterization of characters. In fact, he also influenced earlier filmmakers, since in the 1930s and 1940s his work showed directors the possibility of creating visual effects of depth and perspective unusual in cinema until then. During his lifetime, in 1901, he collaborated with Henry Sienkiewick on the set and costume design for the theatrical version of the novel "Quo Vadis". In fact, part of Checa's work is based on literature, especially this novel, "Ben-Hur" and "Les Miserables". Works by Ulpiano Checa are preserved in the Museo Municipal Ulpiano Checa de Colmenar de Oreja, the Museo del Prado, the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de Buenos Aires and the Museo de la Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, among others.