Francisco Pradilla

FRANCISCO PRADILLA ORTIZ (Villanueva de Gállego, Zaragoza, 1848 - Madrid, 1921).
"Ría de Vigo".
Oil on canvas.
Relined.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 34 x 51 cm; 48 x 65,5 cm (frame).

A group of fishermen pull a rope to bring a boat closer to the coast. We are in front of a painting generous in matter, resolved with a brushstroke rich in textures, with vehement and accurate strokes, that manage to transmit the atmospheric load of the Galician coast, with its thick sea stirred by impetuous gusts of wind.

Francisco Pradilla began his training as an apprentice of Mariano Pescador, and at the School of Fine Arts of San Luis de Zaragoza. In 1868 he continued his studies at the San Fernando School of Fine Arts in Madrid, where he was a disciple of Federico de Madrazo and Carlos de Haes. In 1874 he won the Drawing Prize of the "Spanish and American Enlightenment", and obtained a scholarship to study in Rome, where he lived for twenty-three years, until his appointment as director of the Prado in 1897. In 1878, he took part in the National Exhibition in Madrid and won the Medal of Honor, the same distinction he won that same year at the Universal Exhibition in Paris. As a result of these successes he received numerous commissions not only from Spain and France, but also from America and other European countries. He travels around Spain and is interested in capturing scenes of local customs full of grace and color. His works were part of exhibitions and competitions in cities around the world, such as London, Paris, Berlin, Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires. He was director of the Spanish Academy in Rome, and a member of the Royal Academies of San Fernando and San Luis, the French Academy and the Hispanic Society of New York. He was awarded, among other decorations, the Cross of Isabella the Catholic and the Legion of Honor. Francisco Pradilla's work is present in the Prado Museum, the Fine Arts Museums of Bilbao, Buenos Aires, Havana and São Paulo, the MACBA in Barcelona, the Christchurch Art Gallery in New Zealand and the Romantic Museum in Madrid, among others.