Daniel Hernández Morillo

DANIEL HERNANDEZ MORILLO (Peru, 1856 - 1932).
"Military parade under the balcony", Paris.
Oil on canvas.
Relined.
Signed and located in the lower left corner.
It presents some faults in the golden frame.
Measurements: 90 x 65 cm, 104 x 79 cm (frame).

Two girls lean out to a flowery balcony of a building near Notre Dame to contemplate a military parade. The cathedral looms in the distance, with its emblematic towers and stylized spire silhouetted against a blue sky dotted with wispy clouds. The young women display an aristocratic beauty. One of them fans herself and the other leans idly on the railing, over which ivy and roses climb. It is clear here that female portraiture was one of the genres in which Daniel Hernández Morillo excelled. The refinement of gestures and dresses extends to the description of the urban landscape: elegant carriages, white horses advancing at the same pace, passers-by moving aside to let the retinue pass... The royal facades, topped with the typical Parisian mansards, frame the vivid spring scene.

Daniel Hernández began his training in Lima in 1878, having Leonardo Barbieri as his first teacher. Later he traveled to Paris on a government scholarship. In the French capital he visits Ignacio Merino, who recommends him to go to Italy. Ten years pass between workshops, museums and an intense study, traveling through France, Italy and Spain. He finally settled in Paris, and there he met Fortuny, Padilla and Villegas, Spanish artists whose influence assimilated his painting. During these years he competed in various competitions, obtaining the second medal at the Paris Salon of 1899, the gold medal at the Universal Exposition of 1900 and the Legion of Honor on the same date, awards that demonstrate the acceptance he enjoyed in Europe during the last years of the nineteenth century. Since then, Hernández was declared Honoris Causa in all the Salons. He was also awarded at the Ibero-American Exposition in Seville. In 1912 he returned to America, working between Montevideo and Buenos Aires, always painting portraits and exhibiting his work. Soon after he returned to Paris, where he lived through the Great War, but he returned to Lima in 1918, called by President Jose Pardo to assume the direction of the recently founded National School of Fine Arts, a position he held until his death in 1932. Daniel Hernández left a varied work, including marine watercolors, landscapes, still lifes and numerous sketches. He also painted many portraits, such as the portrait of Pierola in Paris in 1899. He painted Pardo and other Peruvian leaders, as well as illustrious figures such as Bolivar and Pizarro. His so-called "perezosas" deserve special mention, compositions featuring ladies resting on couches, in environments full of sensuality and richness. With them he won the medals of 1899 and 1900. Hernández developed a precious style with a marked balance between drawing and color, revealing a perfect technical mastery. A man of his time, on the basis of his academicist language appear certain notes of impressionist influence. Daniel Hernández is represented in the Prado Museum in Madrid and in the museum that bears his name in Huancavelica (Peru), as well as in other outstanding Peruvian and foreign art galleries.