Vicente Palmaroli Y Gonzales Biography
Vicente Palmaroli Gonzales (1836 - 1896), known as Vicente Palmaroli, was a distinguished Spanish painter and portraitist specializing in genre painting. Born in Zarzalejo on 5 September 1834, Vicente followed in the footsteps of his father Gaetano Palmaroli, a good Italian painter, engraver and lithographer who emigrated to Madrid, who gave him his first artistic teachings.
Vicente continued his education at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid, where he demonstrated his precocious talent. In 1857, after his father's death, he decided to move to Rome, Italy to deepen his artistic knowledge and meet well-known Spanish artists such as Mariano Fortuny.
His skill in painting ancient scenes quickly made Vicente a renowned artist, who participated in numerous art exhibitions and received prizes, medals and honors. During the Paris Universal Exposition of 1867, Vicente Palmaroli met the famous French artist Jean Louis Ernest Meissonier, who significantly influenced his pictorial style.
From 1872 onwards, Vicente devoted his time both to the creation of interesting old master paintings and to teaching, obtaining a position as a professor at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid, the Madrid academy of fine arts which had attended at a young age. In 1883, Vicente moved to Rome to become director of the Real Academia de España de Bellas Artes of Rome.
In 1893 he became director of the Prado Museum, a prestigious position which he held for three years until his death in 1896.
