José de Madrazo y Agudo
José de Madrazo y Agudo (22 April 1781 – 8 May 1859) was a Spanish painter and engraver; one of the primary exponents of the Neoclassical style in Spain. He was the patriarch of a family of artists that included his sons Federico and Luis; and his grandsons, Raimundo and Ricardo.
Also recorded as José de Madrazo · Jose De Madrazo Y Agudo · José de Madrazo Agudo · Jose Madrazo y Agudo
José de Madrazo y Agudo

José de Madrazo y Agudo · [2] · Public domain
- Born
- 1781. · Santander.
- Died
- 1859. · Madrid.
- Nationality
- Spain.
- Fields
- portrait.
- Movements
- Neoclassicism.
- Education
- Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando.
- Teachers
- Gregorio Ferro and Jacques-Louis David.
- Languages
- Spanish.
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Documentary summary
José de Madrazo y Agudo (22 April 1781 – 8 May 1859) was a Spanish painter and engraver; one of the primary exponents of the Neoclassical style in Spain. He was the patriarch of a family of artists that included his sons Federico and Luis; and his grandsons, Raimundo and Ricardo.
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Authority files
wikidata · Q2343934 · wikipedia · José de Madrazo
In this article
Biography
Biography
José de Madrazo y Agudo studied at Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando. Training under Gregorio Ferro and Jacques-Louis David is recorded. Léon Bonnat, José María Avrial y Flores and Pedro Kuntz y Valentini are recorded as having studied under José de Madrazo y Agudo. The recorded working language is Spanish. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are portrait. Positions recorded include list of directors of Museo del Prado. Work by José de Madrazo y Agudo is recorded in the collections of Museo del Prado, Hispanic Society of America, Bilbao Fine Arts Museum and Royal Palace of Aranjuez.
He was born in Santander, and began his studies at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando with Gregorio Ferro, a student of Anton Raphael Mengs. After 1803, he studied in Paris with Jacques-Louis David. Following David's advice, he applied for and received a government stipend to study in Rome. In 1806 he went to Rome, where he completed his training at the Accademia di San Luca and studied Classical art. While there, he had some initial success with his rendering of the death of Viriatus. He also refused to take an oath of allegiance to the new government of King Joseph I. As a result, he and the other Spanish artists living in Rome were effectively held prisoner at the Castel Sant'Angelo. There, he got to know the exiled King Carlos IV and his wife, María Luisa de Borbón. In 1809, he married Isabel Kuntze (?–1866), daughter of the painter Tadeusz Kuntze, who was also staying in Rome. In 1812, King Carlos IV arrived in Rome and brought Madrazo into his circle, also buying La muerte de Lucrecia, a painting he had rejected only a few years previously. The king also commissioned Madrazo to copy several old paintings. That same year Madrazo also painted a portrait of Manuel Godoy, and the following year, portraits of Godoy's wife and children. He lost this position in 1815 when the troops of Joachim Murat entered the Papal States in an effort to unify Italy under French control, prompting King Carlos to abandon his exile. In 1818, after the Restoration, he returned to Madrid with his paintings. Once there, he occupied himself by arranging and cataloguing the collection at the newly established Real Museo de Pinturas y Esculturas (now the Museo del Prado), on behalf of King Fernando VII. The catalog included lithographs of the paintings, marking the first major use of this technique in Spain. In 1823, he was appointed Director of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando and, in 1838, became Director of the Museo del Prado; a position he held until 1857 when he resigned in the face of some Royal criticism. He died in Madrid, aged 78, having amassed a large private art collection, which later passed into the hands of the Marqués de Salamanca and, after his death in 1883, became dispersed. Madrazo focused on religious and historical themes and, together with José Aparicio, helped to establish a movement devoted to patriotic art. His later works were often criticized for being emotionally cold and excessively grandiloquent. The Madrazo family have been described as one of the most important painting dynasties in 19th-century Spain. His sons were Federico de Madrazo, a painter; Luis de Madrazo, a painter; Pedro de Madrazo, an art critic and Juan de Madrazo, an architect; while his grandsons were Raimundo de Madrazo y Garreta, a painter and Ricardo de Madrazo, also a painter. His granddaughter Cecilia de Madrazo married the celebrated artist Mariano Fortuny.

José de Madrazo y Agudo, Madrazo, José (Hombre en oración)
José de Madrazo y Agudo · [2]

José de Madrazo y Agudo, José de Madrazo - La actriz María Escribano
José de Madrazo y Agudo · [1]
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
Explore 1781–1859
The full dated record · 3 entries
1781
José de Madrazo y Agudo born at Santander.
1840
Autorretrato de José Madrazo, dated 1840, held by Museo del Prado.
1859
José de Madrazo y Agudo died at Madrid.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Santander.
Birth place
Madrid.
Death place
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.. Jordán de Urríes y de la Colina, Javier. "Madrazo y Agudo, José de". Museo del Prado. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
- 2.. Navarro, Carlos G. "José de Madrazo y Agudo". Diccionario Biográfico electrónico (DB~e). Real Academia de la Historia. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
- 3.The British Museum notes that according to a Sotheby sale catalogue (1869) of the Marquis of Salamanca (q.v.), the Salamanca collection was 'formed' by the eminent Spanish painter José de Madrazo y Agudo, but is unclear if this means he formerly owned the works or if he was the artistic adviser. See: José de Madrazo, [Biographical Notes,] Online
- 4.Los Madrazo, una familia de artistas: [Exhibition], Museo Municipal, 1985 [catálogo de la exposición, tapa del libro]
- 5.Caso, E. D. (1997). Les Orientalistes de l'école Espagnole. ACR edition, p. 158.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 2
- Diez, José Luis (1998). Catálogo de la exposición, "José de Madrazo". Museo Municipal de Madrid, Fundación Marcelino Botín. .
- Ealo de Sá, María (1981). José de Madrazo, primer pintor neoclásico de España, en su bicentenario, 1781-1759. Ayuntamiento de Santander.
References
Citations
References
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reference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q2343934: José de Madrazo y AgudoWikimedia Foundation
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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