Juan Manuel Blanes (1830-1901) was a Uruguayan realist painter who became the founder of the realist school of painting in that country. His work is original and exotic, in his best paintings Blanes in detail depicted iconic and often tragic for Uruguay events. And he did it in full accordance with his understanding of the tasks of painting, where the main thing - a realistic reflection of reality. That is why his artwork is interesting to both art lovers and historians, they allow us to understand how people lived in a country so far from Russia, with its own distinctive culture and national characteristics.
Paraguayan
Juan is originally from the city of Montevideo. His parents were from Spain, like many Uruguayans at the time. However, they had little besides national pride and religious devotion, for example, Juan's older brother Grigorio was the main earner in the family.
Captive
Juan loved to draw since childhood, at the age of 14 he created his first notable drawing - a picture of the British schooner "Commodore Purvis". And in 1843 the famous siege of Montevideo began and young Juan, along with his mother, five brothers and sisters had to move to a refugee camp. His father stayed in Montevideo, but life in the besieged city was not easy and in 1848 he died.
Gaucho
When it was finally possible to return to the city in 1851, Juan took a job as a painter for the newspaper El Defensor. The pay was not very good, so he had to work part-time painting watercolors.
He married Maria Linari and moved to Salto, the second largest city in Uruguay, where he found a good income as a portrait painter. His portraits differed favorably in their elaboration and realism from the standard artwork of Uruguayan artists, and two years later he was asked by Argentine President Justo José de Urquisa to create a series of paintings for the San José Palace.
Uruguayan girl
There was a lot of artwork, Juan Blanes moved to Argentina for a few years, brilliantly completed the commission, and he became known throughout South America as one of the most capable artists of his generation. When he arrived in his homeland, he received a pleasant and well-deserved surprise: a paid scholarship from the Uruguayan government, thanks to which he was able to go with his family to study painting in Italy.
An episode of the yellow fever epidemic in Buenos Aires
Blanes painted one of his most famous paintings in 1871. Then in Buenos Aires broke out yellow fever - a terrible disease, brought with slaves from Africa in the late 60-ies of the XIX century. It was spread by mosquitoes, which were numerous in the hot climate of South America, and the pathogen itself felt perfectly well there. Added to all this matter crowded population and unsanitary conditions. It is not surprising that from time to time there were monstrous epidemics, leading to sad consequences.
The painting shows a young woman dying, or perhaps already dead, with a helpless infant crawling beside her. The incoming men, who have been opened by her younger teenage brother, seem unfazed - accustomed to everything while surveying the aftermath of the epidemic - but the people in the yard cover their noses at the foul odor wafting out of the house. There is a human tragedy in which there is no one to blame and one can only trust in the will of God. It is not surprising that such epidemics were considered God's punishment for sins.
The Oath of the Thirty-Three Uruguayans.
And Blanes lived in Uruguay for a long time, where he painted portraits and historical paintings. However, his last years were overshadowed by misfortune: his son Juan Luis died in an accident in Italy, and his second son Nicanor then disappeared somewhere, and there was no news about him. The elderly artist decided on a difficult road to the Italian Pisa, where rumors last saw his son, hoping to find out something about him, but all was to no avail. He quietly lived out the rest of his life in this city, not wanting to return to his homeland, and died at the age of 70.
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