Antonio María Esquivel

Antonio María Esquivel studied at Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Saint Isabel of Hungary and Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando. José Domínguez Bécquer, Carlos Esquivel y Rivas and Gabriel Maureta Aracil are recorded as having studied under Antonio María Esquivel. The recorded working language is Spanish. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are portrait. Positions recorded include court painter. Work by Antonio María Esquivel is recorded in the collections of Museo del Prado, Art Institute of Chicago, Biblioteca Museu Víctor Balaguer, Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya and National Museum of Fine Arts, Argentina. Distinctions recorded are Commander of the Order of Isabella the Catholic.

Esquivel was born in Seville. His father was a cavalry officer who was killed at the Battle of Bailén in 1808. He began his studies at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de Santa Isabel de Hungría in Seville. There, he became familiar with the pictorial techniques practiced by Murillo. • Illustration — Contemporary spanish poets gathered in Esquivel's studio (1846). The participants are identified on the painting's page at Wikimedia Commons In 1831, already married and in need of work, he moved to Madrid and enrolled at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, becoming a merit scholar. He was also involved in the intellectual life of Madrid and, in 1837, was an active participant in founding the local "Artistic and Literary Lyceum", where he gave classes in anatomy, a subject that he would later teach at the San Fernando Academy. He returned to Seville in 1839, suffering from an illness that left him nearly blind. Deeply depressed, he tried to commit suicide by jumping into the Guadalquivir. Afterwards, his friends and colleagues at the Lyceum took up a collection that would enable him to receive treatment from a famous ophthalmologist in France. Thanks to their support, by the end of 1840 he had recovered his vision. His official recognitions include the "Commander's Cross" of the Order of Isabella the Catholic. In 1843, he was named Court painter and, in 1847, a Professor at the San Fernando Academy. He was a founding member of the "Society for the Protection of the Fine Arts" and wrote a book on art theory: Tratado de Anatomía Pictórica. He died in Madrid, aged 51. His sons, Carlos María Esquivel y Rivas and Vicente Esquivel, also became painters.

• Illustration — Saint Mary Magdalene • Illustration — Saints Justa and Rufina • Illustration — The Saviour • Illustration — Virgin and Child