19th century Spanish school.

Spanish School XIX century.
"Picador and bulls".
Ink on paper.
Apocryphal signature of Mariano Benlliure in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 48 x 63 cm; 70 x 83 cm (frame).
Mariano Benlliure presented at the age of thirteen his first work in the National Exhibition of Fine Arts. Initially, nevertheless, he dedicated himself mainly to painting, discipline that he continued cultivating in Paris next to his teacher Domingo Marqués. In 1879 he moved to Rome where, fascinated by Michelangelo, he abandoned his brushes to devote himself exclusively to sculpture. In 1887 he settled permanently in Madrid where, at the National Exhibition of the same year, he won his first medal. In 1895 he obtained the medal of honor for the sculpture of the poet Trueba, installed in Bilbao. He also possessed illustrious foreign decorations, such as the French Legion of Honor and the special medal of Emperor Franz Joseph. Mariano Benlliure has a museum with his name in Valencia, and is represented in the Museo de Bellas Artes San Pío V in the same city, in the Museo del Prado and the Museo del Ejército in Madrid, the Museo de Bellas Artes in Murcia and the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Santiago de Chile, among many other public and private collections around the world.