José Morillo y Ferradas

JOSÉ MORILLO Y FERRADAS (Vejer de la Frontera, Cádiz, 1853 - Cádiz, 1920).
"Characters of the seventeenth century", 1908.
Oil on cardboard.
Signed and dated in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 28 x 22,5 cm.
This work is an example of the mastery that Morillo reached in the immortalization of historical scenes of costumbrista character. José Morillo developed a solid artistic career marked by a rigorous academic training and an early international projection. He began his studies at the School of Fine Arts in Cadiz, where he was a disciple of Ramón Rodríguez Barcada, and he soon stood out for his mastery of drawing and his narrative sensibility.
In 1887, thanks to a pension granted by the Diputación de Cádiz, he furthered his training in Paris, then the epicenter of European artistic life. There he worked for six years in the workshops of Francisco Domingo Marqués and the prestigious León Bonnat, assimilating both technical rigor and interest in historical recreation and observation of types and scenes from the past.
Upon his return to Spain he was appointed professor at the School of Fine Arts in Cadiz, from where he influenced new generations of artists; among his disciples was the renowned painter Federico Godoy Castro. Morillo actively participated in the main official exhibitions of his time, highlighting his presence in the one held at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid in 1894, where he presented the canvas Un soldado antiguo, a representative work of his artistic maturity.
Today, the work of José Morillo is part of important public collections: he is represented in the Prado Museum with works on deposit in the Museum of Fine Arts of Granada and in the Museum of Fine Arts of Cadiz, in addition to being in several private collections, which confirms his relevance within the Spanish painting of the late nineteenth century.