Mariano Benlliure y Gil (8 September 1862 – 9 November 1947) was a Spanish sculptor and
medallist, who executed many public monuments and religious sculptures in
Spain, working in a heroic realist style.[2]
Life and works
He was born in the Lower Street of the Carmen neighborhood of
Valencia. His earliest sculptures featured
bullfighting themes,[3] modeled in wax and cast in bronze. At the age of thirteen he showed a wax modello of a
picador at the Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes, 1876. Pursuing the thought of becoming a painter, he went to Paris his expenses paid by his master,
Francisco Domingo Marqués. A trip to Rome in 1879, revealing at first hand the sculptures of
Michelangelo convinced him to be a sculptor. In 1887 he established himself permanently in Madrid, where in that year's Exposición Nacional his portrait sculpture of the painter
Ribera won him a first-prize.[2]
Benlliure's style is characterized by detailed naturalism allied to an
impressionistic spontaneity. His portrait busts and public monuments are numerous, and include:
the monument to Arthur Walsh Fergusson in the Philippines.[10]
the bronze bust of his good friend
Juan Luna, a
Filipino political activist, who also painted a portrait of Benlliure.[1][11] It was completed in plaster in 1884. It was gifted by Spanish donors to the Philippine government in October 12, 1922 and kept in the
National Library of the Philippines. It was believed lost during the
Battle of Manila in 1945 with the destruction of the National Library. It was rediscovered in September 2023 during an auction event and was turned over to the
National Museum of the Philippines.[11][12]
Benlliure was the protector of the Cadiz sculptor
Juan Luis Vassallo, taking charge of the reproduction of the work La Jeroma, which in 1927 had won first prize at the Casino.[13] Mariano Benlliure was the engraver of the first Peseta coins issued in 1947 showing the head of
Franco.[14]
He was depicted on the Spanish 500 ptas banknote in the 1950s, with his sculpture "Sepulcro De
Gayarre en el
Roncal" on the reverse.
^"Anexo: Índice de monumentos de Mariano Benlliure".
Mariano Benlliure. El dominio de la materia(PDF). Madrid & Valencia: Dirección General de Patrimonio Histórico de la Comunidad de Madrid; Consorcio de Museos de la Comunitat Valenciana. 2013. pp. 336–337.
ISBN978-84-451-3458-0.
Mariano Benlliure y Gil (8 September 1862 – 9 November 1947) was a Spanish sculptor and
medallist, who executed many public monuments and religious sculptures in
Spain, working in a heroic realist style.[2]
Life and works
He was born in the Lower Street of the Carmen neighborhood of
Valencia. His earliest sculptures featured
bullfighting themes,[3] modeled in wax and cast in bronze. At the age of thirteen he showed a wax modello of a
picador at the Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes, 1876. Pursuing the thought of becoming a painter, he went to Paris his expenses paid by his master,
Francisco Domingo Marqués. A trip to Rome in 1879, revealing at first hand the sculptures of
Michelangelo convinced him to be a sculptor. In 1887 he established himself permanently in Madrid, where in that year's Exposición Nacional his portrait sculpture of the painter
Ribera won him a first-prize.[2]
Benlliure's style is characterized by detailed naturalism allied to an
impressionistic spontaneity. His portrait busts and public monuments are numerous, and include:
the monument to Arthur Walsh Fergusson in the Philippines.[10]
the bronze bust of his good friend
Juan Luna, a
Filipino political activist, who also painted a portrait of Benlliure.[1][11] It was completed in plaster in 1884. It was gifted by Spanish donors to the Philippine government in October 12, 1922 and kept in the
National Library of the Philippines. It was believed lost during the
Battle of Manila in 1945 with the destruction of the National Library. It was rediscovered in September 2023 during an auction event and was turned over to the
National Museum of the Philippines.[11][12]
Benlliure was the protector of the Cadiz sculptor
Juan Luis Vassallo, taking charge of the reproduction of the work La Jeroma, which in 1927 had won first prize at the Casino.[13] Mariano Benlliure was the engraver of the first Peseta coins issued in 1947 showing the head of
Franco.[14]
He was depicted on the Spanish 500 ptas banknote in the 1950s, with his sculpture "Sepulcro De
Gayarre en el
Roncal" on the reverse.
^"Anexo: Índice de monumentos de Mariano Benlliure".
Mariano Benlliure. El dominio de la materia(PDF). Madrid & Valencia: Dirección General de Patrimonio Histórico de la Comunidad de Madrid; Consorcio de Museos de la Comunitat Valenciana. 2013. pp. 336–337.
ISBN978-84-451-3458-0.