ART 4
2-DAY 13 September
v.9.80 |
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Born on 13 September 1928: Robert Clark
Indiana, US pop artist. He was born Robert Clark, in New Castle, Indiana. Between 1945 and 1948 he studied at art schools in Indianapolis and Utica, and from 1949 to 1953 at the Chicago Art Institute School and the Skowhgan School of Painting and Sculpture, Maine. In 1953 and 1954 he studied at the Edinburgh College of Art and London University, after which he settled in New York. He took up contact with the painters Ellsworth Kelly, Jack Smith and Youngerman. His early works were inspired by traffic signs, automatic amusement machines, commercial stencils and old tradenames. In the early sixties he did sculpture assemblages and developed his style of vivid color surfaces, involving letters, words and numbers. In 1966 he had exhibitions in Düsseldorf, Eindhoven (Van Abbemuseum), Krefeld (Museum Haus Lange) and Stuttgart (Württembergische Kunstverein). He was represented at the documenta "4" exhibition, Kassel, in 1968. He became known for silkscreen prints, posters and sculptures which took the word LOVE as their theme. The brash directness of these works stemmed from their somewhat symmetrical arrangements of color and form. LINKS — American Dream (1971 color print, 76x91cm; 724x603pix, 70kb _ ZOOM to 1440x1200pix, 179kb) four round badges with a 5-point star in each. _ This has been transformed by the pseudonymous Robin Clock “Kansas” into two stunning series of symmetrical abstractions (each level is a different picture, which does not enlarge the previous one, but adds to its edges and center) (you can click instantly from one series to the other at the same level) (for levels 7, 8, and 9, whose size exceeds most computer screens, there is an alternate image reduced to size 6, 932x1318pix): _ American Cream, level 1 (2006; 165x233pix, 14kb _ level 2 to 233x330pix, 26kb _ level 3 to 330x466pix, 44kb _ level 4 to 466x660pix, 90kb _ level 5 to 659x932pix, 166kb _ level 6 to 932x1318pix, 322kb _ level 7 to 1318x1864pix, 675kb _ level 8 to 1864x2636pix, 1465kb _ level 9 to 2636x3728pix, 2970kb ||| _ level 7 size 6, 405kb _ level 8 size 6, 466kb _ level 9 size 6, 448kb) and _ American Stream, level 1 (2006; 165x233pix, 14kb _ level 2 to 233x330pix, 26kb _ level 3 to 330x466pix, 44kb _ level 4 to 466x660pix, 90kb _ level 5 to 659x932pix, 166kb _ level 6 to 932x1318pix, 322kb _ level 7 to 1318x1864pix, 675kb _ level 8 to 1864x2636pix, 1465kb _ level 9 to 2636x3728pix, 2970kb ||| _ level 7 size 6, 405kb _ level 8 size 6, 466kb _ level 9 size 6, 448kb) — Love (1563x1487pix, 284kb) one of a multitude of images (and sculptures) by Indiana, practically identical except for the flat colors, filled by the letters LO (with a tilted O) above the letters VE. In this case the letters are orange, the background partly green and partly blue. “Kansas” could not let this go by without transforming the top half of Indiana's repetitive simplistic pictures into images rich in color and detail: _ LOL aka Laughing Out Loud (2006; screen filling, 329kb _ ZOOM to 1864x2636pix, 1130kb), _ Laughing Outrageously Loud (2006; screen filling, 622kb _ ZOOM to 1864x2636pix, 3487kb), and _ GOG aka Gamma Omicron Gamma (2006; screen filling, 297kb _ ZOOM to 1864x2636pix, 1358kb). — Love (284kb) in this one the letters are yellow, on a partly red, partly black background. — Love (1916x1878pix, 723kb) red letters, partly blue, partly white background. _ “Kansas” has changed and enriched the colors, given them texture, switched two letters, added a vole (and many more voles in the colorful page background), resulting in the impressive and aptly titled _ VOLE (2006; 956x939pix, 234kb _ ZOOM to 1912x1878pix, 939kb) {psst... all you always wanted to know about voles but were afraid to ask} — 140 images at Artnet (many are photos of sculptures). —(061107) |
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Died on 13 September 1506: Andrea
Mantegna, Italian painter born in 1431. Mantegna was one of the foremost north Italian painters of the 15th century. A master of perspective and foreshortening, he made important contributions to the compositional techniques of Renaissance painting. Born probably at Isola di Carturo, between Vicenza and Padua, Mantegna became the apprentice and adopted son of the painter Francesco Squarcione of Padua. He developed a passionate interest in classical antiquity. The influence of both ancient Roman sculpture and the contemporary sculptor Donatello are clearly evident in Mantegna's rendering of the human figure. His human forms were distinguished for their solidity, expressiveness, and anatomical correctness. Mantegna's principal works in Padua were religious. His first great success was a series of frescoes on the lives of St. James and St. Christopher in the Ovetari Chapel of the Church of the Eremitani (1456; badly damaged in World War II). In 1459 Mantegna went to Mantua to become court painter to the ruling Gonzaga family and accordingly turned from religious to secular and allegorical subjects. His masterpiece was a series of frescoes (1465-1474) for the Camera degli Sposi of the Palazzo Ducale. In these works, he carried the art of illusionistic perspective to new limits. His figures depicting the court were not simply applied to the wall like flat portraits but appeared to be taking part in realistic scenes, as if the walls had disappeared. The illusion is carried over onto the ceiling, which appears to be open to the sky, with servants, a peacock, and cherubs leaning over a railing. This was the prototype of illusionistic ceiling painting and was to become an important element of baroque and rococo art. Mantegna's later works varied in quality. His largest undertaking, a fresco series on the Triumphs of Caesar (1489, Hampton Court Palace, England), displays a rather dry classicism, but Parnassus (1497), an allegorical painting commissioned by Isabelle d'Este, is his freshest, most animated work. His work never ceased to be innovative. In Madonna of Victory (1495), he introduced a new compositional arrangement, based on diagonals, which was later to be exploited by Correggio, while his Dead Christ was a tour de force of foreshortening that pointed ahead to the style of 16th-century Mannerism. One of the key artistic figures of the second half of the 15th century, Mantegna was the dominant influence on north Italian painting for 50 years. It was also through him that German artists, notably Albrecht Dürer, were made aware of the artistic discoveries of the Italian Renaissance. He died in Mantua. — In April 1985, The Adoration by the Magi sold for £8'100'000, world auction record for the artist. LINKS — Agony in the Garden (1459, 63x80cm; _ ZOOMable) _ detail (_ ZOOMable) — Crucifixion (1459, 67x93cm) — Madonna with Sleeping Child (1468, 43x32cm _ ZOOM) — The Holy Family with Saint Elizabeth and the Infant John the Baptist (_ ZOOM) — The Holy Family with Saint John the Baptist (_ ZOOM) — The Resurrection (_ ZOOM) — Presentation at the Temple (1460, 67x86cm) _ detail — The Court of Mantua (1474) _ detail 1 (749x933pix, 199kb) _ detail 2 (727x1050pix, 176kb) — Altarpiece (1460, 480x450 cm) — Madonna and Child with Cherubs — Saint George (1460, 66x32cm) — The Protonary Carlo de' Medici aka Portrait of a Cardinal (1466, 54x42cm) — Christ the Redeemer — Adoration by the Magi (1505, 49x66cm; _ ZOOM) _ detail (_ ZOOM) — The Lamentation over the Dead Christ (1490, 68x81cm; 954x1082pix, 404kb) — The Adoration by the Shepherds (1451, 102x141cm _ ZOOM) —different Adoration by the Shepherds (1453, 40x56cm; 780x1085pix, 187kb) — _ A prodigy, Andrea Mantegna established his reputation when he was barely 20 years old. This painting is an early work, but already his highly individual style is evident. The hard, precise drawing, the astonishing clarity of even the smallest details in the distant landscape, and the refined, pure color are typical of his work, as are the intensely serious expressions of the figures. The Adoration seems to have been painted for Borso d' Este, ruler of Ferrara, and the coarse realism of the shepherds probably reflects Flemish paintings collected by the Este. — Agony in the Garden (1459 , 160x203cm, 710x927pix, 156kb _ ZOOM) _ detail (ZOOM) _ In 1453 or 1454 Mantegna married Nicolosia Bellini and in so doing allies himself professionally with her brother, Giovanni, to whom he imparts Donatellian ideas. The two London panels depicting the Agony in the Garden by Mantegna and Bellini respectively define the artistic interdependence of the two brothers-in-law: the technical innovations and organization of the Paduan painter and the pre-eminence of the Venetian in the field of light and color. _ detail of Judas who leads the soldiers to Jesus (950x696pix, 181kb) — San Luca Altarpiece (1453, 177x230cm; 827x1029pix, 170kb) _ The work (12 panels) was commissioned in 1453, when the artist was twenty-two years old, for the chapel of S. Luca in the church of S. Giustina, Padua. The figures represented, reading from upper left, are: Saint Daniel of Padua, Saint Jerome, the Virgin, Christ, Saint John, Saint Augustine, Saint Sebastian, Saint Scolastica, Saint Prosdocimus, Saint Benedict and Saint Justina. The original wooden frame in which Mantegna's signature had been incised was destroyed by lightning in the seventeenth century. Its loss radically alters the composition, as can be seen by the considerable difference in scale between the two registers. It is thus worth attempting a reconstruction, in order to grasp the meaning of the whole work. Probably commissioned by the donors to execute a Gothic-type altarpiece, Mantegna must have succeeded in altering the scheme substantially by inserting a thick molding between the two orders. This division set the two ranges much farther apart than they are today. Another device used by the artist to avoid the effect of caged images is the perspective in the center of the composition whereby the upper panels were made smaller to suggest distance while the lower panels were made larger to imply that they are closer to the spectator. But the most sensational means is the stepped pavement, which must have been the ground plane of the suggested architectural construction. The whole must have made a sort of two-storied loggia, housing figures engaged in a Sacra Conversazione. Even without its original framework, the separate figures remain highly impressive. A lyric quality, unequalled in Mantegna's other work, is generated by the illusionistic effect of the figures, achieved by means of their "wet drapery," which Mantegna must have rediscovered by studying classic Roman sculpture. _ detail: Saint Justina (1236x450pix, 85kb) — Death of the Virgin (1461 Panel, 54x42cm; 837x649pix, 136kb _ ZOOM) _ The Virgin Mary lies on her deathbed, surrounded by eleven Apostles. Through the window, the Borgo di San Giorgio and the Laguna of Mantua can be seen in the background. This scene depicts the Virgin Mary's final moment on earth. According to the Apocrypha, her body and soul were carried up to Heaven by Jesus following her earthly death. This moment is also known as the “Dormition of the Virgin.” The composition is dominated by the search for perspective, which is achieved mostly through the geometric pattern of the flooring, the scaling of the figures and the window in the back, which acts as a “vanishing point.” Also remarkable here is the strong individualization of the characters' physiognomies and the masterful rendering of the landscape. Indeed, this is one of the first Italian paintings with a recognizable topography. The scene is derived from a mosaic in Saint Marcos of Venice designed by Andrea del Castagno, and from the vaulted architecture visible in drawings by Jacopo Bellini, the painter's father in law. Mantegna entered the service of the Gonzaga family of Mantua in 1549 and this work was painted for them. The upper third is missing, but a part of it, Christ Receiving the Virgin, is at the Pinacoteca Nazionale in Ferrara. — Profile of a Man (1460; 1010x787, 174kb) — Presentation at the Temple (1460, 67x86cm) Staatliche Museen, Berlin 904*730pix, 149kb) _ detail (840x563pix, 77kb) — Saint George (1460, 66 x32cm) Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice 525*1100pix, 180kb) — Altarpiece 1457-60 Panel, 480x450cm) San Zeno, Verona 947*637pix, 164kb) — Crucifixion 1457-59 Wood, 67x93cm) ; 908*740pix, 179kb) — Saint Sebastian with arrows in head and neck (1458, 68x30cm; 1200x541pix, 169kb) _ The vertical inscription at the right side of the saint is the signature of Mantegna in Greek. — Saint Sebastian without arrows in head or neck (1459, 255x140 cm; 1061x568pix, 167kb) — The painting is part of the High Altar of San Zeno in Verona. Painted in dull colors, with the exception of the touches of red and yellow of the archers, shows the love of the painter for antique ruins and the precision of his careful study of the human body. — The Madonna of the Cherubim (1485, 88x70cm; 1006x815pix, 135kb) — Judith and Holofernes (1495; 800x466pix, 94kb) — Cardinal Lodovico Trevisano (1469; _ ZOOM) — Parnassus 1497, 160x 192cm) ; 857*685pix, 144kb) — Ceiling Oculus (1474, round 270cm diameter; 919x757pix, 177kb) — Suite of Cardinal Francesco (detail) (1474; 981x679pix, 106 kb) —(080912) |
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Born on 13 September 1861: Frederick
Judd Waugh, US painter specialized in Maritime
Scenes, who died in 1940. He studied under Thomas
Anshutz and Thomas
Eakins. Waugh was born in Bordentown, New Jersey. Between 1880 and 1881 he studied at the Pennsylvania Academy, where he met Eakins. He then went to Paris to attend the Académie Julian where he was a student of Bouguereau and Lefebvre. In 1885 he settled in Philadelphia. In 1894 he moved to England and lived in Saint Ives, Cornwall. He contributed a number of illustrations to London periodicals and exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1894 and 1895. In 1892 he had shown paintings at the Salon in Paris. In 1907 he returned to the United States. LINKS The Knight of the Holy Grail (1912, 238x319cm) — Southwesterly Gale, St. Ives (1907, 76x127cm) — The Swiss Alps (1887, 76x127cm) Late Afternoon (63x76cm) Breakers at Floodtide (1909, 89x102cm) _ Frederick Judd Waugh's prodigious output is defined by his achievements as a marine painter. Breakers at Floodtide is an accomplished, ambitious seascape, painted shortly after his return from Europe. The expressive and realistic effects were the result of Waugh's exhaustive study of light, shadow, and motion of waves breaking on rocky shores. As he wrote, "one should not conflict actualities in nature with artistic representation.... It is impossible to paint the sea in literal movement or to carry to the nostrils the tang of the salt sea brine, yet all these are somehow felt in a work of art. Being able to present such feeling is where the artist should excel." By adhering to this philosophy, Waugh attained great stature as a marine painter, garnering a strong popular and commercial following during his lifetime. Born in Bordentown, New Jersey, Waugh's father was Samuel Bell Waugh, the noted portrait painter. From 1880 to 1883, he studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts with Thomas Eakins and Thomas Anshutz, and in 1883, enrolled in the Acad6mie Julian, Paris. However, it was a visit in 1893 to the Island of Sark, off the French coast, that proved to be a decisive turn. Waugh remained for two years, studying the rocky shoreline, making notes, sketches, and studies. He traveled to St. Ives, Cornwall, in 1895, where he continued intensive analysis of the seascape subject. Waugh left England for the United States in 1907, in an effort to establish his reputation as a marine painter on his native continent. Breakers at Floodtide shows an assured virtuosity in paint application, rendering, and composition. Works of this period are characterized by vigorous brushwork and a rich surface texture created by the building up of layers of impasto. Waugh outlined his outlook and working methods in several essays and manuscripts, stating that "the sea is a pliable element and the wind and rocks and sands heave it up and twist it and turn it, pretty much the same way every time, until the observer learns to know the repeated forms he sees, and becomes at last so familiar with them that they can be painted from memory ... I spend part of each summer studying the sea ... and what I learn from it then, lasts me until the next time." Breakers at Floodtide is likely taken from studies executed in the summer of 1908 or 1909 at Bailey Island, Maine. Waugh's studies done during these summer visits were later worked into finished compositions, enlarged or integrated into composite views upon returning to his studio. Waugh exhibited Breakers at Floodtide in the 1916 Spring Annual at The Detroit Institute of Arts. It is a fine example of the painter's style, typical of the period, and executed in a controlled manner with more detail evident than in his later works. His passionate exploration of this subject resulted in a singular ability to capture the aura and movement of the tumultuous waves and the generalized sensation and atmosphere of the sea, establishing Waugh as one of the US's foremost marine painters. |
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Murió el 13 de septiembre de1873: Eduardo
Rosales Gallina (o Rosales Martínez), pintor realista
español, nacido el 04 noviembre 1836. Nacido en Madrid, cursó estudios en la Academia de San Fernando, donde fue discípulo de Luis Ferrant y de Federico Madrazo, entre otros ilustres profesores. En 1855 trasladó su residencia a Roma y allí trabajó como copista. En 1862 decidió mandar una de sus obras a la Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes, gracias a la cual obtuvo una Mención Honorífica. Su arte volvió a ser premiado en la Exposición de 1864, por su obra Testamento de Isabel la Católica, que obtuvo una medalla de Primera Clase. Repitió éxito en la Exposición Universal de París, en 1867, con El Duque de Atenas, al serle concedida la Cruz de la Legión de Honor, y en la Exposición de 1871, donde obtuvo de nuevo la medalla de Primera Clase por La muerte de Lucrecia. Fue nombrado director de la Academia Española de Bellas Artes de Roma, pero murió antes de poder tomar posesión del cargo. Sus últimas obras fueron los evangelistas San Juan y San Mateo para la Iglesia de Santo Tomás de Madrid. Algunas de sus creaciones más famosas son Don Juan de Austria es presentado a su padre Carlos V retirado en Yuste, Retrato de Manuel Cortina, Naranjero o La venta de novillos. — Eduardo Rosales nació en el seno de una familia muy modesta, y murió en Madrid, en plena madurez, a la edad de treinta y siete años. Tuvo una salud muy delicada que contrastaba con sus anhelos de dedicarse a la pintura. Se le puede definir como un pintor romántico, que se inspiró en su propio dolor. A pesar de su prematura muerte, le daría tiempo para legarnos el patrimonio de sus inestimables pinturas. Un día, paseando por las calles de Florencia, entró a visitar la casa franciscana de San Salvador. Inmediatamente le acometió la tentación de quedarse a vivir con los frailes franciscanos por el resto de su vida. Se imaginaba feliz vistiendo el hábito austero de la orden, pero muriendo lentamente en la paz del convento. El silencio conventual y la vida de los frailes que trataban de ganar el cielo llevando una vida de trabajo y de oración, le impresionó sobremanera. La iglesia, los claustros, los pinos y los cipreses que rodeaban al monasterio afloraban en su alma profundas emociones. Comenzó sus estudios en la Escuela de Bellas Artes de San Fernando de Madrid, en la que fue discípulo de Luis Ferrant y Federico Madrazo. No obstante lo delicado de su salud, viajó a Roma en el año 1855 para completar su formación artística, gracias a la ayuda que recibió de sus amigos. En la capital italiana permaneció durante algunos años, pasando toda clase de privaciones y necesidades. Para poder sobrevivir, tuvo que dedicarse a copiar cuadros. Su único aliento fue su vocación de pintor. En el año 1859, siendo ministro de Fomento el marqués de Cervera, le fue concedida una pensión, que le permitió dedicarse a su trabajo de artista. Participó en el año 1862 en la Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes de Madrid con su pintura Niña sentada en una silla. En la obra, muestra a una niña italiana jugando con un gato. Fue en 1864 cuando obtuvo su primer gran éxito artístico con El testamento de Isabel la Católica, con el que obtuvo la primera medalla de oro de la Exposición Nacional de Madrid. La pintura fue adquirida por el Estado español para el Museo Nacional. Los éxitos le fueron llegando en años sucesivos, pues en 1865 obtuvo en París la primera medalla de oro y la Legión de Honor. Se casó en el año 1868 con una prima suya, Maximina Fernández Pedrosa. Regresó nuevamente a Roma y pintó otro magnífico cuadro, Desnudo de mujer. En la Exposición de 1871, presentó el cuadro La muerte de Lucrecia, que ya había iniciado cuando estuvo en Roma. La pintura fue premiada con la medalla de primera clase. Cultivó los temas históricos, entre ellos Presentación de don Juan de Austria a Carlos V en Yuste; y el retrato, entre los que merece la pena destacar el que realizara a #>La condesa de Santovenia. Poseyó un estilo colorista, con tendencia al naturalismo y una técnica espontánea y libre. Para combatir la tuberculosis que sufría, marchó a Murcia, donde trabajó en obras de pequeñas dimensiones. De esta época es La venta de novillos. Rechazó el ofrecimiento de dirigir el Museo del Prado, pero aceptó el de director de la Academia Española de Bellas Artes de Roma, cargo del que no pudo tomar posesión por sobrevenirle la muerte. Su última obra fue Los evangelistas San Juan y San Mateo, para la iglesia de Santo Tomás de Madrid. En el año 1881, el gobierno español adquirió para el Museo Nacional su pintura La muerte de Lucrecia, mencionada anteriormente. LINKS Testamento de Isabel la Católica (290x400cm; 604x800pix, 116kb _ .ZOOM to 1057x1400pix, 130kb) This canvas afforded Rosales, whose many problems and illness made his artistic life less than perfect, definite recognition, and it was only at the end of his life that his worth was truly appreciated. This canvas earned him first prize and the sale of the canvas to the State at the Spanish National Exposition in 1864. He also presented it in Paris where it earned him the First Medal and the title of Knight of the Legion of Honor. When Rosales was searching for a theme for his entry for the National Exposition he wanted to “find a matter of great importance in our history”, which turned out to be the will that Isabel la Católica [22 Apr 1451 – 26 Nov 1504] left upon her death, considered the best testament to her character and to her political philosophy. Isabel appears on her deathbed, with canopy and curtains, dictating to her seated scribe the contents of her will. Sitting in a chair, bent over and defeated, is king Fernando II el Católico [10 Mar 1452 – 25 Jan 1516], with their daughter and heiress, Princess Juana “La Loca” [6 Nov 1479 – 12 Apr 1555]. In the group on the right is the covered figure of Cardinal Cisneros [1436 – 08 Nov 1517], who would later become the Regent of Castile. –- Presentación de don Juan de Austria a Carlos V en Yuste (412x675pix, 29kb) — La Muerte de Lucrecia (1871, 257x347cm; 440x600pix, 33kb) _ “Pisadas de varón ajeno se hallan sobre tu lecho, Colatino, mas sólo el cuerpo fue mancillado, no el corazón, y de esto será buena prueba mi muerte; libre como estoy de pecado, no quiero librarme de castigo, para que ninguna romana no casta viva con el ejemplo de Lucrecia.” (Tito Livio) Con estas palabras la patricia Lucrecia relataba a su esposo Colatino, a su padre Lucrecio Tricipitino y a otros amigos de la familia cómo había sido violada por Sexto Tarquino, hijo del rey de Roma. A continuación, sacó un cuchillo de entre sus vestidos y se lo clavó en el pecho. Espantados unos ante el terrible final de la virtuosa romana, se ocultaban el rostro con los brazos, pero Bruto, levantando su puñal al cielo, hacía juramento de venganza. Corría el año 510 AC, y este trágico suceso provocaría la caída de la monarquía y el advenimiento de la República Romana. Lucrecia sería considerada a partir de entonces como modelo de la fidelidad conyugal, aunque para los primeros autores cristianos el hecho del suicidio no resultaba demasiado apropiado. No obstante, durante la Edad Media se convertirá en una suerte de heroína virtuosa, personificación de la castidad y víctima de la lascivia, como en De Claris mulieribus de Bocaccio (1361-62), tanto que en numerosos cassoni o arcones de boda italianos aparece representada la figura de Lucrecia como referencia obligada de la fidelidad marital. La literatura y arte posterior tampoco se olvidaron de esta célebre figura, pudiéndose mencionar de entre los primeros a Maquiavelo, Shakespeare, La Fontaine, Francisco de Rojas Zorrilla, etc., y entre los segundos a Tiziano, Guido Reni, Lorenzo Lotto, Tintoretto, Rembrandt o Tiépolo. En nuestro caso, no es la primera vez que Rosales trataba en un cuadro el tema de una mujer cuya muerte traería consigo importantes cambios políticos. Años antes (1864) había pintado el Testamento de Isabel la Católica, pero ahora lejos de reflejar la atmósfera de quietud y de tranquila espera ante ese momento final que veíamos en aquel cuadro, la presenta cargada de gran dramatismo, con los hechos ya consumados. Considerada por el propio autor como su mejor y más conseguida obra, obtuvo la medalla de oro en la Exposición Nacional de 1871. Como nota curiosa, esta composición fue reproducida en 1931 por el Banco de España en una emisión de billetes de 50 pesetas, según grabado realizado en 1874 por José María Galván y Candela [01 Aug 1837 – 11 Oct 1899]. _ Compare The Death of Lucretia (1679, 38x17cm) by Frans van Mieris the Elder [16 Apr 1635 – 12 March 1681]. —(080912) |
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