José Casado del Alisal

José María Casado del Alisal (Villada, Palencia, March 24, 1832 - Madrid, October 8, 1886) was a Spanish painter. He was brother of the Spanish-Argentine entrepreneur Carlos Casado del Alisal.

It was formed in the Municipal School of Drawing of Palencia, created in 1838, as well as Dióscoro Teófilo Puebla Tolín, Serafín Martínez del Rincón and Trives, Eugenio Oliva Rodrigo, Juan María de Velasco and Asterio Mañanós Martínez, among others, and in the Real Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, where he studied under the direction of Federico Madrazo. In 1855 he obtained a scholarship to Rome for his painting Resurrection of Lazarus, where he met Antonio Gisbert and Dioscoro Puebla, with whom he maintained a friendship that he cultivated throughout his life. He lived in Naples, Milan and Venice. After his pension was extended, he continued his training in Paris in 1861, where he painted the canvas The Oath of the Cortes of Cadiz, a work which he presented in the exhibition of 1862 and which is hung in the hemicycle of the Congress of Deputies of Spain.

He obtained a first class medal in the national exhibition of 1860, with his painting Last moments of Fernando IV the Emplaced, sent from Italy in 1856, and repeated a medal of the same kind in the National of 1864 with his canvas The surrender of Bailén, painting reminder Of the capitulation of the French army the 22 of July of 1808, before the Spanish troops. He was the first director of the Royal Academy of Spain in Rome, officially inaugurated in January 1881, and member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando.

In the National Exhibition of 1881 presented / displayed the picture The bell of Huesca or the legend of the monk king, inspired in the homonymous legend. He received no medal, and upon receiving only honorable mention he presented his resignation as director of the Spanish Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. In May 1882, he was appointed member of the jury to award the pension of Landscape for Rome on behalf of the Ministry of State, and in October 1883, again becomes a member of the jury for the pension of Painting in Rome.

Cultivated especially the historical subjects. Thus, he owes numerous portraits of the high society of the time, such as Baldomero Espartero, Isabel II of Spain, Alfonso XII of Spain and Emilio Castelar and Ripoll. But above all, he is a painter representative of a pictorial tendency that dominates the second half of the nineteenth century: the painting of great events in relation to the history of each country. It is a matter of "history painting" or "retrospective realism" insofar as it tries to recreate with realism facts that have occurred in the historical past. In addition, she made some genre paintings, which are preserved in the Prado Museum, such as Portrait of a French Lady, Woman with White Mantilla and Lady with Fan, among others.

After the death of Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, Casado followed two of the usual procedures in the nineteenth century to honor and remember his friend:

He made a picture of Bécquer on his deathbed. Half an hour after the death, occurred at dawn on December 22, 1870, there was a total solar eclipse. The painter made an engraving in which the calm countenance stands on a background wrapped in penumbra.
At the end of the funeral Casado proposed to several of the attendees the idea of ​​editing the works of the ill-fated writer. To study the details of this edition was held at one in the afternoon of December 24 a meeting in his painting studio. Thus was agreed a public subscription to raise funds. That purpose had two reasons: on the one hand to honor the deceased friend and on the other to help the woman and children of Becquer economically. Gustavo owes Casado del Alisal his literary glory, since his works could have been forgotten but for Casado's decision, as Rafael Montesinos in his book Bécquer, biography and image corroborates.
His style is a bit cold, trying to reconcile academicism and romantic ideals.

Works:
Resurrection of Lazaro (1855, Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando).
Last moments of Fernando IV the Emplaced (1860, Palace of the Senate of Spain).
The bell of Huesca (1880, City council of Huesca).
The surrender of Bailén (1864, Museo del Prado).
The oath of the Cortes of Cadiz (1863, Congress of Deputies).
Portrait of Isabel II (1865, Royal Palace of Madrid).
Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba before the corpse of the Duke of Nemours (1866, Palace of the Senate of Spain).
Portrait of Alfonso XII in the Hall of the Throne (1884, Royal Palace of Madrid).
Portrait of Práxedes Mateo Sagasta (1884, Congress of Deputies).
The Battle of Clavijo (1885, Church of San Francisco the Great of Madrid).
Portrait of Baldomero Espartero (1872, Congress of Deputies).
Portrait of Antonio Cánovas del Castillo (Royal Academy of History).
Portrait of Eugenio García Ruiz (1882), o / l, 64.4 x 53.4 cm, signed and dedicated.
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