Juan de Ávalos

JUAN DE ÁVALOS (Mérida, 1911 – Madrid, 2006).
“Seated Woman.”
Bronze and marble. Number 82 of 100.
The marble base shows signs of damage.
Signed and dated.
Measurements: 45 x 23 x 15 cm; 3 x 25 x 18 cm (base).
A full-relief sculpture cast in bronze depicting a nude woman. The piece is modeled with delicate, rounded forms that capture the sensuality of the female body and the figure’s movement.
Juan de Ávalos began his training at a very early age. At the age of six, he was a student of Don Juan Carmona, the parish priest of the Church of Santa Eulalia, who taught him and three other children how to draw. Ávalos’s family moved to Madrid shortly thereafter, as his father’s eyesight had deteriorated. In Madrid, Ávalos’s father showed his son’s drawings to the painter Manuel Benedito. The famous artist was surprised by the quality of the child’s work. He could not believe that a child could draw so well. Convinced of the boy’s talent, he advised Ávalos’s father to take his son to the Casón del Buen Retiro. He is known for creating *Los amantes de Teruel* in Teruel and the *Monument to Luis Carrero Blanco* in Santoña, Cantabria; his most important works are those at the *Valle de los Caídos* (Valley of the Fallen), the majestic monument in Madrid where Francisco Franco’s body lay.