Marcelino Santa Maria

MARCELIANO SANTA MARÍA (Burgos, 1866 - Madrid, 1952).
Untitled.
Oil on canvas.
It has slight damage.
Signed in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 35 x 45 cm: 55 x 65 cm (frame).
Marceliano Santa María stood out especially as a landscape painter, turning the fields, towns and monuments of Castilla into the central axis of a work deeply rooted in the historical and visual identity of his land. His landscapes, of careful composition and luminous sensitivity, reflect a serene and evocative gaze.
His artistic training began with his father, a silversmith and goldsmith, and continued at the Provincial Academy of Drawing in Burgos, where he was a disciple of Isidoro Gil Gabilondo and Evaristo Barrios. Later he moved to Madrid to complete his studies at the Escuela de Bellas Artes de San Fernando and the Círculo de Bellas Artes, in addition to training in the workshop of the painter Manuel Domínguez. From very early on he participated in the National Exhibitions of Fine Arts, obtaining a third medal in 1887.
Between 1891 and 1895 he extended his training in Rome thanks to a scholarship from the Diputación de Burgos, a stage from which emerged his most famous work, The Triumph of the Holy Cross, with which he won a second medal at the National Exhibition and the only medal at the International Exhibition in Chicago. Upon his return to Madrid, he began an intense teaching career at the School of Arts and Crafts, an institution he eventually directed, without abandoning his constant presence at the National Exhibitions, where he was awarded first medals in 1908 and 1910 and the medal of honor in 1934.
Throughout his career he received numerous awards, including the gold medal at the International Exhibition of Seville and at the Extraordinary Exhibition of the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid in 1943. He was named a full member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in 1912 and, in 1946, he was awarded the Cross of Alfonso X the Wise. Most of his work is preserved in the Museo Marceliano Santa María de Burgos, although he is also represented in important collections, such as the Museo del Prado.