Salvador Martínez Cubells

SALVADOR MARTÍNEZ CUBELLS (Valencia, 1845 - Madrid, 1914).
Untitled.
Oil on canvas adhered to cardboard.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 35 x 48 cm; 44 x 57 cm (frame).
Son of the painter, restorer and academician Francisco Martínez Yago, Salvador began his formation in his father's workshop and in the Academy of San Carlos of Valencia. He took part in the National Exhibitions of Fine Arts in Madrid without interruption between 1864 and 1889, sending a total of sixty paintings and being awarded the third medal in 1871, second in 1876 and first in the editions of 1881, 1884 and 1887. He also participated in the Aragonese Exhibition of 1868, and in the International Exhibition of Munich in 1909 he was awarded a gold medal. From its early days, its clientele included prominent personalities of the time, such as the Marquis del Campo and the Count of Pinohermoso. In 1869 he obtained the position of first restorer of the Prado Museum, under the direction of Antonio Gisbert. He remained at the head of the museum's restoration workshop for twenty-six years, and in this discipline he reaped numerous successes, and even created a school of restorers that remained active until the early twentieth century. His restoration in 1874 of Murillo's "San Antonio de Padua", which had been stolen from the cathedral of Seville and rescued in New York, earned him the Medal of Fine Arts, awarded by the Academy of San Fernando, as well as the recognition of the City Council of Seville. Undoubtedly, the most important restoration he carried out was the transfer to canvas of Goya's "Black Paintings", one of the first applications of this technique in Spain. Salvador Martínez Cubells was a member of the Association of Spanish Writers and Artists, a corresponding academician of San Fernando and a professor at the School of Arts and Crafts in Madrid. Among the distinctions he was awarded during his lifetime were the Grand Cross of Isabella the Catholic, the commendation of the Order of Charles III and the appointment of Knight of San Miguel. He is currently represented in the Prado Museum, the Royal Academies of Fine Arts of San Fernando and History, the Fine Arts Museums of Valencia, Alava, Malaga and Granada, the Senate of Madrid and the Castrelos Museum in Vigo, among many others.