Mariano Benlliure

Mariano Benlliure Gil (Valencia, September 8, 1862-Madrid, November 9, 1947) was a Spanish sculptor, considered the last great master of nineteenth-century realism.

Biography

Mariano Benlliure was born in the Carmen neighborhood of Valencia, specifically at 16 Calle Baja, into a family with a long artistic tradition, albeit humble. His mother was Ángela Gil Campos and his father was Juan Antonio Benlliure Tomás (1832-1907). He carried out home decoration works drawing false perspectives, garden elements, vases, garlands..., an ornamental painting that was very much to the taste of the high society of the time. Among his older brothers, the easel painters Juan Antonio and José, and Blas, a decoration painter, stood out.

Signature of Mariano Benlliure at the Marquis de Larios monument.

Mariano was a very early creator, since from a very young age he left an example of his gift for sculpture. He did not start speaking until the age of seven; he said of himself "I have been dumb until I was seven years old when I began to say a few words. Then I stuttered for a long time and I have difficulty speaking, even when I get angry I am more clumsy with expression [...]". When he was barely five years old, he went with his brother Pepe to the studio of Francisco Domingo Marqués, a young painter who stood out in those years, moving away from the traditional classicist and academic tendency in favor of the realist current. At the age of nine, Mariano began as a carver under the tutelage of his brother Pepe, in Madrid. His first contests and exhibitions took place before he was ten years old. He made his first important work in Zamora, at the early age of fifteen, in 1878. There, the same person for whom his father temporarily worked, commissioned a processional procession, "El Descendido", for the Royal Brotherhood of the Holy Burial of that city.

Who would be one of the most famous Spanish sculptors of all time began to cultivate in his youth a subject in which he occupies a prominent place: bullfighting, with bronze representations of the different fates and protagonists of bullfighting. At the age of thirteen, he participated in the National Exhibition of Fine Arts in 1876, presenting a group of wax sculptures called La coda de un picador .

Monument to General Martínez Campos in the Retiro Park of Madrid; inaugurated in 1907.

Monument to General José de San Martín in Lima; inaugurated in 1921.

His main dedication, however, was then painting, which he continued to cultivate in Paris alongside his teacher Domingo Marqués. In 1879 he went to Rome, where, fascinated by Michelangelo, he abandoned his brushes to devote himself exclusively to sculpture. The First Medal of the National Exhibition of Fine Arts in Madrid in 1884 was declared void, Benlliure received the Second for " Accidenti!", a novel theme with an altar boy who burns himself with the censer, which meant a fundamental step in his career. In 1887 he settled permanently in Madrid, where, at the National Exhibition of that year, he obtained the first medal for the statue of the painter Ribera. His name soon became famous. The busts and public monuments that he made are numerous, among other reasons because he won almost all the public calls. His style is characterized by a detailed and meticulous naturalism, a spontaneous impressionism, with nervous modelling, so fast and lively that the artist's handprint is evident in the mud. In this order he achieved a prodigious mastery. Alfonso XIII commissioned him to work for the Royal Household. His important works are the monuments of Castelar, Gayarre, Agustina de Aragón, María Cristina de Borbón, San Martín, Velázquez, Fortuny, Joselito and Pastora Imperio. He also cultivated religious imagery. He has left a vast production, mastering a wide range of techniques. He alternated his stays in Rome with trips to Paris and obtained first medals at the International Exhibitions in Berlin, Munich, Vienna and Paris.

In 1887 he won the First Medal with the statue of the painter José Ribera and in 1895 he obtained the Medal of Honor at the National Exhibition for the sculpture of the poet Antonio Trueba, installed in Bilbao, a city for which he also made the statue of his founder, Diego López V de Haro. He received illustrious foreign decorations, such as the Legion of Honor, from France, and the special medal of Emperor Franz Joseph. In 1900 he won the Medal of Honor in Sculpture at the Universal Exhibition in Paris for a group of works among which the Gayarre Mausoleum, the relief Portrait of the Royal Family and the bust of the painter Francisco Domingo stand out. In 1910 he got the Grand Prize in Sculpture in Buenos Aires. The following year the Spanish Pavilion at the International Exhibition in Rome dedicated a room to him in which he highlighted the monumental bullfighting group El Coleo. In Spain he received a Gold Medal from the Círculo Bellas Artes in Madrid in 1924 for the bust La lección. He was president of the Association of Spanish Writers and Artists during the period 1929 - 1947. In addition, he was director of the Academy of Spain in Rome, general director of Fine Arts and director of the Museum of Modern Art in Madrid, as well as a member of various Academies. of Fine Arts in Madrid, Valencia, Zaragoza, Malaga, San Lucas in Rome, Milan, Carrara and Paris, and received innumerable decorations such as the French Legion of Honor, Commander of the Order of the Italian Crown or the Grand Cross of Alfonso X of Spain. In 1947 the first pesetas coins with the effigy of Franco were minted, engraved by Mariano Benlliure himself.

Married to the famous tiple Lucrecia Arana, he formed one of the most popular couples of the moment. He enjoyed recognition in life and a healthy economic situation. It can be said that he was the official sculptor of the Restoration and all the public figures of that period passed through his Madrid workshop on José Abascal street. He led a great social life, often being seen in bullfighting arenas, theaters and cultural gatherings. He was the owner, among other assets, of the Collado Villalba farm that is now occupied by the Colegio de Santa María de los Hermanos Maristas. After his death in Madrid, his remains were transferred to Valencia with all honors. His remains rest in the Cabañal cemetery, along with those of his parents, as planned by the artist himself. His tomb, very modest considering the great funerary creations he made for many others, only consists of a simple cross lying on the ground and some high reliefs with the heads of his parents and his own bust.

In 2022, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of his death, the Madrid City Council invested more than €100,000 in the restoration of works such as the Monument to Lieutenant Ruiz and that of General Martínez Campos.

Source of Children (1928), in Medio Cudeyo, Cantabria. Copy of the original polychrome ceramic made by Benlliure on behalf of the Marquis de Valdecilla.

Monument to the Duke of Rivas (1929) in the gardens of the Victoria of Córdoba (Spain).

Work

Civil and funeral works

Statue of Jacinto Ruiz (1891), in the Plaza del Rey de Madrid.

Monument to the Alcántara Hunters (1931), Valladolid.

• Mausoleum of the Viscount of Permens, 1914, in Cabra.
• Monument to Barbara de Braganza, 1882, in Madrid.
• Monument to Lieutenant Jacinto Ruiz and Mendoza, Madrid, 1891 (see).

Mausoleum of the Viscount of Térmens (1914), in Cabra.

Mausoleum of Julian Gayarre (1891-1895) in Roncal.

• Monument to Alvaro de Bazán, Madrid, 1891.
• Funeral monument to Joselito "El Gallo", in the Cemetery of San Fernando de Sevilla.
• Funeral monument -mausoleum- to the tenor Julián Gayarre in Roncal, Navarre (1891-1895).
• Monuments to Sagasta, Eduardo Dato and Canalejas in the Panteón de Hombres Ilustres de Madrid.
• Mausoleo de Blasco Ibáñez (Valencia)
• Angel opening the door in the mausoleum of the Moróder family (Valencia)
• Funeral sculpture of tenor Francisco Viñas Dordal, in the cemetery of Montjuïc in Barcelona (1940-1943).
• Monument to Diego López V de Haro, who in his day settled in front of the City of Bilbao and today is in the Circular Square (before Plaza de España).
• Monument to Antonio Trueba in the Jardines de Albia in Bilbao (1895).
• Portraits de la familia de Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida, hoy en la Casa Sorolla, en Madrid.
• Monument to Goya (1902), facing the north entrance of the Museo del Prado, in Madrid.
• Monument to Arsenio Martínez Campos in the Buen Retiro, Madrid; inaugurated in 1907.
• Monument to Emilio Castelar (1908), Madrid.
• Monument to Eugenio Montero Ríos (1916), in Santiago de Compostela.
• Monument to Agustina de Aragón (1908), in Zaragoza.
• Monument to José Campo Pérez I Marqués de Campo (1908), in Valencia.
• Allegorical statues at the Metropolis Building in Madrid that was inaugurated in 1911.
• Monument to Cape Noval, Madrid (Pl. Oriente), 1912 (see).
• It pays tribute to Cardinal José María Martín de Herrera (1915), in Santiago de Compostela.
• Monument to General José de San Martín in Plaza San Martín de Lima (1921).
• The equestrian statue of Alfonso XII, 1922.
• Monument to Miguel Moya, Madrid, 1928.
• Monument to Antonio Maura, Palma de Mallorca, 1929.
• Monument to Miguel Primo de Rivera, Jerez de la Frontera, 1929.
• Monument to the Duke of Rivas. Cordoba, 1929.
• Monument to the Marquis de Larios in Malaga, 1889.
• Monument to the Alcántara Hunters. Valladolid, 1931.
• Monument to Isabel la Católica (1892), in the Plaza de Isabel la Católica de Granada.
• Monument to your friend the sculptor Aniceto Marinas, 1943, in the Jardinillos de San Roque (Segovia).
• Statue in honor of Aniceto Coloma, Almansa, 1922.
• Monument to Bernardo de Irigoyen, 1934, Plaza Rodríguez Peña, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Religious work

Almodóvar del Campo (Ciudad Real)

• Virgin of the Dolores1942. Brotherhood of Our Lady of Dolores. The image is exposed to cult in Our Lady's Parish. of the Assumption of Almodóvar del Campo.

Cabra (Córdoba)

• Marble altarpieces, choir sillery and lid of the baptismal font of the church of the Assumption and Angels.

Calanda (Teruel)

• Miracle of Miguel Pellicer1940. Temple of the Pillar.

Cartagena

• Blessed Christ of the Faith1941. Carmen Church.
• Our Father Jesus of Preference1942. Costume California
• Blessed Virgin of the First Pain1946. Costume California
• San Juan Evangelista1946. Costume California
• Beso Group of Judas1946. Costume California
• Blessed Christ of the Flag1947. Costume California
• Jesus of the Entry Group in Jerusalem1947. Costume California

Crevillente (Alicante)

• Our Father Jesus Nazarene1944.
• Mary Magdalene1945.
• Virgin of the Dolores1946. Confradía Virgen de los Dolores. The image is exposed to worship in the Church of Our Lady of Bethlehem of Crevillente.
• Most Holy Christ of Diffuses and Agnes1946.
• The Three Marys and Saint John1946. One of the most beautiful processional sculptural groups.
• Holy Christ Yacente, 1946.
• Entry of Jesus in Jerusalem1947. Last work done by the Valencian artist.
• Saint John of the Third Word of the Cross1947. Acquired by the family of D. Vicente Martínez Mas and his wife Dña. Incarnation Carreres to the heirs and collaborators of the artist, confirming the authorship of Benlliure.
• Our Lady of the Rosary1945.

Cuenca

• Alegoria de la Fe y de la Esperanza, Catedral de Cuenca

Hellín (Albacete)

• Christ Yacente (1942)

It should be noted that Hellín was on the verge of losing the singular image made by Mariano Benlliure on two occasions; one of them was the same sculptor who, once the work of the Christ was finished, did not want to part with the image and tried to keep it. The second occasion was Pope Pius XII who sent a statement to Hellín to transfer the image of the Recumbent to the Vatican at any price. Without a doubt Hellín said a "no" to both proposals, since he is a true figure of anatomy.

Madrid

• The Divine Caution1944. Royal Brotherhood and Brotherhood of Nazarenes of Ntro. Father Jesus Divine Cautive.
• Virgin of Grace of Saint Lawrence of El Escorial. Brotherhood of Romeros of the Virgin of Grace. San Lorenzo de El Escorial.

Malaga

• Nazarene del Paso1935. Archive of the Pass and Hope.
• Christ of the Expiration1940. Archive of the Expiration.

Onteniente

• Mare de Déu en la seua Soledat1943.
• Jesus Christ1943.

Salamanca

• Our Lady of Solitude1941-1943. Brotherhood of the Soledad, New Cathedral of Salamanca.
• Estatua orante del XVII Marquis de Cerralbo and Frontal of altar, in the Chapel of Cerralbo of Ciudad Rodrigo.

Walk (Jaen)

• Blessed Christ of the agony1943. It is located in the Royal Basilica Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Head
• Sacred Heart of Jesus1943. Also in the Royal Basilica Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Head.

Ubeda (Jaén)

• Our Father Jesus of the Fall1942. Very illustrious Confraternity of Our Father Jesus of the Fall and Blessed Mary of the Amargura of the One (Jaén)
• A torito and three tondos of politicians of his time. Collection of the Palacio Vela de los Cobos. Úbeda (Jaén).

Villanueva del Arzobispo (Jaén)

• Blessed Christ of the Veracruz, 1942. This image is the pattern of the city and is venerated in the Temple of the Veracruz.

Villanueva de la Serena (Badajoz)

• Our Lady the Virgin of the Dolores dated in 1943, it is the titular image of the Brotherhood of Our Lady the Virgin of the Dolores and the only one in Villanueva de la Serena that produces under palio. It was acquired by popular subscription, arriving in the city on July 25, 1943. He is surprised by his realism and the serenity of his face which, at the same time, reflects a content pain that, without a doubt, makes it originally beautiful.

Zamora

• The Descendant1879. Sculptor group that parade the afternoon of Good Friday at the Royal Confraternity of the Holy Burial.
• The Redemption1931. Sculptor group that leaves in the early morning of Good Friday in the Brotherhood of Jesus Nazarene (vulgo, "Congregation")

Játiva (Valencia)

• Virgin of the Seo or Mare de Déu de la Seu1943.

Valencia

• step-anda of the Holy Face1944, which ended with the typical trilogy of Nazarene, painful and cristos in the holy marine week.

Villanueva de los Infantes (Ciudad Real)

• Christ Yacente "The Sepulchre", St. Andrew Apostle parish.