Francisco Domingo

FRANCISCO DOMINGO MARQUÉS (Valencia, 1842 – Madrid, 1920).
“The Struggle.”
Mixed media on paper.
Signed and titled.
Measurements: 14 x 22 cm; 36 x 42 cm (frame).
Domingo Marqués began his training at the San Carlos School of Fine Arts in Valencia and in the studio of Rafael Montesinos, who instilled in him a deep admiration for Ribera. In 1864, he moved to Madrid to further his studies at the Royal Academy of San Fernando in Madrid, and in 1868 he was awarded the coveted scholarship to Rome. As early as 1866, he had been awarded third prize at the National Exhibition in Madrid for the painting “A Lance in the 17th Century,” and the following year, he received a gold medal for the same work at the Valencian Regional Exhibition—achievements that helped him secure the scholarship to Italy. In Rome, he attended Eduardo Rosales’s studio and became friends with Mariano Fortuny, of whom he would paint a posthumous portrait in 1884. His first work as a scholarship recipient, “The Last Day of Sagunto,” was submitted to the Valencia Regional Exhibition in 1869 and to the National Exhibition in 1871, along with the painting “Saint Clare,” which earned him his first medal. He completed his second work, “Portrait of Manuel Ruiz Zorilla,” in Valencia, in his famous studio at La Gallera, which had become the center of Valencia’s artistic life. For a year, he taught at the San Carlos School of Fine Arts, where the Benlliure brothers were among his students. In 1871, when he failed to return from Rome, the Provincial Council decided to withdraw his pension. It was then that Domingo settled in Madrid, where he created decorative works for the Portugalete and Fernán Núñez palaces. In 1875, he moved to Paris, devoting himself almost exclusively to creating exquisitely executed anecdotal paintings, such as “A Break in the Hunt” (1901). These works are executed in a meticulous and colorful style and reveal a certain Impressionist influence. In 1914, following the outbreak of World War I, he returned to Spain and settled once again in Madrid, where he achieved official recognition. He was admitted to the San Fernando Academy of Fine Arts in 1917, and was the subject of a public tribute in Valencia the following year. Domingo’s mature style is rooted in the naturalistic tradition of the Baroque, and his brushwork breaks down the pictorial material to focus his attention on color and light. His works are represented in the Prado Museum, the Fine Arts Museums of Valencia, Málaga, and Asturias, the Hispanic Society, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Lázaro Galdiano Museum in Madrid, among many others.