Manuel Castro Gil

MANUEL CASTRO GIL (Lugo, 1891-Madrid, 1963).
"Fantasy".
Etching.
Signed and titled at the bottom.
Measurements: 13 x 16 cm; 28 x 34 cm (frame).

Manuel Castro was an engraver formed in the study of Alejandro Ferrant and parallel to the classes of the Superior School of Fine Arts of San Fernando, where he will know the engraver Carlos Verger. He worked at the Casa de la Moneda, where he became the head of Artistic Projects. From the 1920s onwards he worked in the magazines La Esfera, Blanco y Negro, ABC, Nuevo Mundo and the Galician magazines Alfar, Nós and Ronsel, where many of his works were published. In 1930 he won the gold medal for his work Catedral de Malinas. Later he was awarded the Círculo de Bellas Artes medal and the gold medal for his work. He dedicated his production entirely to the art of engraving, which he executed mostly with the etching technique and exclusively with the theme of landscape and reproduction of monuments, especially ruins and old churches with vegetation. His work is currently preserved in the Provincial Museum of Lugo, in the Quiñones Museum of León, in the Museum of Orense and Pontevedra, in the National Chalcography and in the National Library, where books illustrated by Castro Gil himself can also be found.