| Content from Wikipedia under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license ⇔ Maps from OpenStreetMap under the ODbL license |
Rafael Esteve
Rafael Esteve | |
|---|---|
| Error creating thumbnail: Portrait of Rafael Esteve, by Francisco de Goya y Lucientes. 1815. (Museum of Fine Arts of Valencia). |
Rafael Esteve Vilella (Valencia, July 1, 1772 – Madrid,[1] October 1,[2] 1847) was a Valencian engraver, the last of the great masters of reproductive engraving,[3] and one of the most prominent representatives of Romanticism in Spain. A member of a family of artists, he was the son of the sculptor José Esteve Bonet and the nephew of the painter Agustín Esteve.
Biography
Initially trained at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Carlos in Valencia, he moved to Madrid, where he obtained a scholarship to continue his studies at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando.
During the reign of Charles IV he collaborated with the Real Calcografía. In 1799 he was appointed Engraver of the Chamber and executed the portraits of the King and Queen based on drawings made by his uncle Agustín from paintings by Goya, possibly intended for the Guía de Forasteros. His friendship with the Aragonese painter may have begun at that time; in 1815 Goya painted his portrait with the tools of his trade.
During the French invasion he lived in Cádiz. Upon the return of Ferdinand VII he was able to fulfill his wish to broaden his training in France and Italy.
Among his works, worthy of note are some of the engravings illustrating the first sextodecimo edition of Don Quixote, published by the Imprenta Real, 1797–1798; the "View of the Segontian theater taken from the tiers" ("Vista del teatro seguntino tomada de la gradería"), which he engraved after a drawing by Manuel Camarón for the Viaje arquitectónico-antiquario de España (1807); and the portraits of Charles IV and of Ferdinand VII and their respective wives, or that of José de Palafox, among his contemporaries, as well as the portraits of Francisco Pizarro, Francisco Sánchez de las Brozas and Jerónimo Gracián (1791), which he engraved for the Retratos de españoles ilustres.
In 1839 he achieved the greatest success of his career by winning the gold medal at the Paris Exhibition for his etching and burin reproduction of Murillo's painting Moses Making Water Spring from the Rock, for whose execution he had personally traveled to Seville some years earlier.
He was awarded the Cross of Charles III and appointed honorary director of the Academy of San Carlos. He was an academician of merit of the Academy of San Fernando, a corresponding member of the Academy of Paris, and director of the Calcografía Nacional.
References
- ↑ The sources do not agree on Rafael Esteve's place of death.
He died in Madrid according to:
- CARRETE PARRONDO, Juan (ed.). Diccionario de grabadores y litógrafos que trabajaron en España. Siglos XIV a XIX, updated in August 2009.
- An article in Generalitat Valenciana (1999): La luz de las imágenes: Catedral de Valencia, 4 de febrero al 30 de junio de 1999, volume 2, part 2. 419 pages. See a paragraph of this article in the first position of this list. It says:
Rafael Esteve died in Madrid on October 1, 1847.
- An article on page 4 of the monarchist newspaper La Esperanza (of Monday, October 4, 1847), which states that he died "at this court" (Madrid).
- An article on page 1 of the Diario de avisos de Madrid (October 9, 1847) states that he died on October 1 in Madrid.
- An article on page 2 of the Madrid newspaper El Español (of Monday, October 11, 1847) states that he died on October 1 in Madrid.
- El Clamor público. Madrid. 10/10/1847, page 4. [1]
- El Heraldo (Madrid. 1842). 10/10/1847, page 4 [2]
- In the register of the deceased (1841–1870) of the Municipal Historical Archive of Valencia, the death of no Rafael Esteve Vilella is RECORDED.
- The article «Rafael Esteve i Vilella» in the Gran enciclopèdia catalana.
- ↑ The sources do not agree on Rafael Esteve's date of death.
He died on October 2, 1847 according to:- An article on page 4 of the monarchist newspaper La Esperanza (of Monday, October 4, 1847), which states that he died on Saturday, October 2, 1847, although it is quite possible that the news writer wrote the item on the 3rd, with it being published on the 4th...
The day before yesterday, at an advanced age, the dean of Spanish engravers, D. Rafael Esteve, died at this court. The distinguished reputation of this veteran artist, who held first place among all those of his profession in Spain, was founded on titles as legitimate and valid as the print of the famous painting by Murillo known as "The Waters of Moses", on whose execution he spent ten years, and which is today the finest engraving ever made by Spanish burins.
- An article in Generalitat Valenciana (1999): La luz de las imágenes: Catedral de Valencia, 4 de febrero al 30 de junio de 1999, volume 2, part 2. 419 pages. See a paragraph of this article in the first position of this list. It says:
Rafael Esteve died in Madrid on October 1, 1847.
- CARRETE PARRONDO, Juan; SEBASTIÁN, Santiago; BOZAL FERNÁNDEZ, Valeriano; DE MESA, José; and GISBERT, Teresa (1992). El grabado en España: siglos XIX y XX. Madrid: Espasa-Calpe. P. 174. See a paragraph of this book in the second position of this list. It says:
Upon the death of Rafael Esteve ―October 1, 1847―, he was succeeded as professor at the Special School of Fine Arts by Alejandro Blanco [...].
- PIJOÁN, José; CARRETE PARRONDO, Juan; and FONTBONA, Francesc (1988). Summa artis: Historia general del arte. El grabado en España. Madrid: Espasa-Calpe. Page 174. See a paragraph of this book in the third position of this list. It says:
Upon the death of Rafael Esteve ―October 1, 1847―, he was succeeded as professor at the Special School of Fine Arts by Alejandro Blanco [...].
- Diario de avisos de Madrid, October 9, 1847, p. 1[3]
D. Rafael Esteve, Engraver of the Chamber of H. M., died on the 1st of the current month; the nephew, executors and friends of said gentleman (R. I. P.) ask his friends, to whom through an involuntary oversight no funeral invitation may have been sent, to commend him to God and to attend the funeral to be celebrated for his soul today, Saturday the 9th, at dusk, in the parish church of San Luis; for which they will receive special favor.
- El Español, Madrid newspaper, October 11, 1847, p. 2[4]
The night before last, the funeral for the soul of don Rafael Esteve y Vilella was celebrated in the parish church of San Luis; he was a knight of the royal and distinguished Order of Charles III, First Engraver of the Chamber of H.M., director of engraving of the academies of San Fernando of this court and of San Carlos of Valencia, member of the Royal Institute of France, and died on the 1st of the current month, as we announced to our readers…
- Museo de Bellas Artes (1985). Vicente López (1772-1850): dibujos para grabados. 102 pages. See a paragraph of this book in the sixth position of this list. It says:
He died in Madrid, on October 1, 1847.
- An article on page 4 of the monarchist newspaper La Esperanza (of Monday, October 4, 1847), which states that he died on Saturday, October 2, 1847, although it is quite possible that the news writer wrote the item on the 3rd, with it being published on the 4th...
- ↑ Gallego, A., p. 300.
Bibliography
- Gallego Gallego, Antonio (1968). Historia del grabado en España. Madrid: Cátedra. ISBN 9788437602097
- Zabala, Fernanda (2003). 125 valencianos en la Historia. Valencia (Spain): Carena Editors. ISBN 8487398642
- Catalá Gorgues, Miguel Ángel; et al. (1986). El grabador Rafael Esteve. 1772-1847 (in español). Exhibition catalog. Valencia: Publicaciones de la Fundación Caja de Pensiones.
External links
