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Vicente
García de Paredes (1845–1903)
A Spanish style painter of
historical, genre, portraits, and urban scenes, Garcia de Paredes was
born at Valencia. He began his artistic education at the Escuela de
Bellas Artes de San Carlos at Valencia, and later moved to Madrid, where
he worked for the Museo del Prado as a copyist. He won a bronze medal
at the Exposición de Bellas Artes a Valencia. Afterwards, he received
a scholarship and travelled to Rome, where he was influenced by the
Orientalist painters Mariano Fortuny, Ignacio Pinazo, Juan Peyró, and
José Benlliure. In Rome, he completed a number of works in the Orientalist
style, including An Arab Blacksmith. He exhibited at the Exposition
de Valence in 1879, and then in around 1884, he moved to Paris where
he abandoned Orientalism and embraced the genre of 'casacas' for which
he is mostly known—these are his French 18th century-style interior
genre paintings, which feature the nobility in elegant scenes and surroundings.
He executed these in fine detail and pastel tones, and many appeared
in European publications, including Le Monde, which made him
very popular. Garcia de Paredes was considered one of the greatest watercolourists
of the Spanish school of the 19th century. His watercolours were exhibited
at the Circulo de Bellas Artes, and the Society of French Watercolourists
in Paris. After his death, his paintings went out of fashion and fell
into obscurity. He died at Paris.
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