- Alonso Miguel de Tovar
Alonso Miguel de Tovar, sometimes (less correctly) called Tobar (1678 - 1758) was a Spanish
baroque painter, appointedcourt painter by Philip V in 1723.Early career
Alonso Miguel de Tovar was born in
Higuera de la Sierra in 1678, to a secondary and empoverished branch of the illustrious Tovar family, of the Lords of Tovar, later Marquesses of Berlanga. He trained in Seville under Juan Antonio Ossorio and Juan Antonio Fajardo, having executed numerous religious paintings, including "Our Lady of Consolation with Saints Francis, James and a Clerical Donor" (1720), in theSeville Cathedral, and "St Francis Receiving the Stigmata" (c. 1720), in the Royal Academy of San Fernando,Madrid . In both of these the influence of Murillo is discernible: the colouring is vivid and the drawing precise, if slightly rigid, and both works show what has been called a "gentle and uncomplicated piety", differing to some extent from the tradition of Spanishreligious painting .Career as court painter
Tovar was appointed court painter in 1729, when the Spanish court moved to
Seville , taking the place of Teodoro Ardemans. There he collaborated withJean Ranc , probably painting replicas of the latter's portraits. His own portraits include "Portrait of a Young Girl" (1732), now inMeiningen , at Schloss Elisabethenburg. In 1733 he travelled with the court when it returned toMadrid , and he may have worked as an assistant toLouis-Michel van Loo . Tovar also probably painted the theme of the "Holy Shepherd", popular with Sevillian artists of his time. Of the paintings of the subject attributed to him, however, only the one in the church at Cortelazor, near Aracena, signed in 1748, is considered authentic.References
Madrazo, Pedro de (1872). "Catálogo Descriptivo e Histórico del Museo del Prado de Madrid (Parte Primera: Escuelas Italianas y Españolas)." Calle del Duque de Osuna #3; Original from Oxford University, Digitized May 1, 2007: M. Rivadeneyra, page 577.
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