Avendano Serafino De Biography
Serafín Xoaquín Avendaño Martínez (12 October 1838 – 23 August 1916) was a Galician landscape and genre painter who spent many years in Italy.
Serafín Avendaño was born in Vigo. His father was a professor. When he was still very young, the family moved to Madrid, where he received his first art lessons at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando from Antonio María Esquivel and Jenaro Pérez Villaamil. In 1858, he won a silver medal at the Exposición de Galiza for his watercolor "A miña tristura" (My sadness). Although he was initially influenced by the landscape style of the Belgian painter Carlos de Haes, he later acquired a brighter palette.
During the 1960s, he visited the United States, England, France and Switzerland.
In 1866, after receiving a scholarship, he went to Italy for further studies and remained there until 1891. Most of his time in Italy was spent in and around Genoa, where he became associated with the "Rivara School", a local group of landscape painters. Periodically, he returned to Spain to participate in various exhibitions and work on the family estate near Vigo.
After his return, he served on several art juries and provided illustrations for the magazine “Blanco y Negro” from 1893 to 1911.
