José Villegas Cordero

JOSÉ VILLEGAS CORDERO (Seville, 1848 - Madrid, 1921).
Untitled.
Pastel on paper.
It has slight damage to the frame.
Signed in the upper right corner.
Measurements: 53 x 38 cm; 57 x 41 cm (frame).
José Villegas began his apprenticeship with José María Romero, under whose direction he studied for two years. Then he entered the School of Fine Arts, where he was a disciple of Eduardo Cano. At an early age he took his painting "Pequeña filósofa" to the Sevillian Exhibition of 1860, which was sold for 2,000 reales. Around 1867, still in his formative years, he painted two canvases: "Niñas pidiendo limosna", highly praised by the critics, and "Colón en la Rábida", acquired by the Dukes of Montpensier. He then traveled to Madrid, where he went to the studio of Federico de Madrazo. There he befriended Rosales and Fortuny, and studied the masters of the Prado Museum. During this period he copied Velázquez, whose spontaneous style he adopted for his pictorial technique, as well as his vibrant color. Seduced by the orientalist work of Fortuny, Villegas returned to Seville and visited Morocco, from where he brought back some paintings and sketches. At the end of 1868 he decided to move to Rome in the company of Rafael Peralta and Luis Jiménez Aranda. There he attended night classes at the Chigi Academy and shared his studio with other colleagues, until he moved to Rosales' workshop. His work, at this time, focused on costumbrista themes, a genre in which Villegas achieved resounding success, being in constant demand by a clientele eager for traditional themes, especially bullfighters and dancers. His extraordinary versatility also allowed him to satisfy the demand of an international clientele that, after Fortuny, demanded Arab fantasy themes. Thus, Villegas took advantage of his sketches taken in Morocco, without forgetting the themes of genre and "casacones". In the mid-seventies he returned to Seville and visited Morocco again. Back in Rome from 1876, he picks up the torch bequeathed by Fortuny and becomes the most admired and quoted painter among dealers and collectors. He continued to work on his orientalist and costumbrist themes, and sent his works to Spanish exhibitions. In 1878, following a commission from the Spanish Senate, Villegas began to work on history themes. Also, in the mid-eighties he focused on paintings directly inspired by Italian Renaissance art, his culminating work in this style being "The Triumph of the Dogaressa", painted in 1892 and exhibited with great success in Berlin. During these years he worked especially in Venice, a city that offered him an inexhaustible framework for the setting of his compositions. In 1898 he was appointed director of the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, in 1901 director of the Prado Museum and in 1903 academician of San Fernando. He is currently represented in the Prado Museum, the Fine Arts Museums of Seville and Cordoba, the San Telmo Museum in San Sebastian and the Collection of the Bank of Spain, among other important institutions, both public and private.